Alexandr Glyadyelov was born in Legnitz, Poland, in 1956, into the family of Soviet Army officer. Since 1974, he has lived in Kyiv.
He studied optics at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, graduating in 1980. Having studied photography independently since the mid 1980’s, he began working as a professional freelance photojournalist in 1989. Glaydyelov has traveled frequently throughout the former Soviet Union taking photographs in Ukraine, Russia, Molvoda, Kyrtyztan, Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, France, and the United States. He covered armed conflicts in Moldova (where he was wounded), Nagornij Karabakh, and Chechnya.
Since 1996-1997, Gladyelov has concentrated on long-term documentary photography projects: socially abused children in Ukraine, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic among intravenous drug users in Ukraine (the book “Here and Now” was published in 2000 in Kyiv).
In 2001, working with the humanitarian organization Medicins Sans Frontieres, Gladyelov began the project “Without the Mask” about the Tuberculosis epidemic in Russian prisons.
He was awarded the Grand-Prix of Ukrpressphoto-97, Hasselblad Prize a the European Photography contest in Vevey (Switzerland) in 1998 and Mother-Jones 2001 Medal of Excellence (USA).
Gladyelov’s photography ahs been used by international organizations such as MSF, WHO, Norwegian Refugee Council, UNAIDS, and UNICEF.