Mike Glad is a photographer, business owner, art collector, and producer who has spent over 35 years traveling to remote corners of the world to document the lives of indigenous peoples. His destinations have included Ethiopia, Guatemala, Pakistan, and Yemen, among others.
As the son of a naval aviator, Mike grew up in various cities in the United States and Europe. He attended the Georgia Institute of Technology on a football scholarship and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering in 1968. In Atlanta, he wrote and photographed for several travel-related publications, including Travel Magazine and Delta Airlines’ Sky Magazine.
An avid collector of art, Mike has amassed one of the most diverse animation art collections in the world. His animation art shows have been exhibited in many film and cultural centers and museums throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Australia, South America, and Asia. In 2000, Mike partnered with filmmaker Leslie Iwerks to finance and produce The Spirit of the Maya, about the modern Maya culture. In 2002, they embarked on Recycled Life about the thousands of people who have made their living in the Guatemala City Garbage Dump. The short documentary was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Documentary in 2007.
In 2008, Mike was the principal contributor to exhibitions in Frankfurt, Germany, Copenhagen, Denmark and Vancouver, British Columbia