Spare by Alexander Glyadyelov

Posted by Photo Slaves in PhotographersMar 4th, 2011 | one response

The children in Aleksandr Glyadyelov’s pictures do not live normal lives. The humiliating poverty experienced by the majority of Ukrainians has pushed these kids out of their homes and onto the streets where they spend their days searching for a crust of bread, and their nights looking for a place to sleep. Some prefer the violence of the streets to homes filled with alcohol and drugs. Basements, begging, thefts, alcohol, violence, drugs, cruel treatment – these are inevitable parts of the daily struggle. When Alexander Glyadyelov looks into a childs eyes and receive his or her gaze in response, He is not looking at a statistic, but at a child. Photographs can reveal pain, which He search for, even while he wish it did not exist. Alexander Glyadyelov photographed the children over the next month until, without warning, they changed sleeping quarters, and he lost them. He met them again two years later, only to lose them after three days. Some of these images are spontaneous; others are the result of endless research. The rest are the product of long-lasting, trusting relationships.

Aleksandr Glyadyelov was born in Legnitz, Poland, in 1956, into the family of a Soviet Army officer. Since 1974, he has lived in Kiev.

He studied optics at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute, graduated in 1980. Having studied photography independently since the mid 1980′s, he began working as a professional freelance photojournalist in 1989. Glyadyelov has traveled frequently throughout the former Soviet Union working on projects in Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Kyrgyztan, Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, France, and the United States. He covered the armed conflicts in Moldova (where he was wounded), Nagornij Karabakh, and Chechnya.

Since 1996-1997, Glyadyelov has concentrated on long-term documentary photography projects: socially deprived children and the HIV / AIDS epidemic. Since 1996 until now works in cooperation with the humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres. His photography has been used by international organizations such as MSF, WHO, Norwegian Refugee Council, UNAIDS, and UNICEF.