mirsolav tichy is now nearly 80 years old. he resides in kyjov, a small moravian town. he has spent much of his life hiding in the bushes and taking pictures of women without their knowledge with his home-made camera.in the 1940s tichy studied at academy of fine arts in prague but after the communist takeover in 1948 he dropped out of school and returned to moravia. he spent some eight years in prison camps and upon his release in the 1970s he wandered around in rags pursuing his obsession with the female form using cameras he made from tin cans, children's spectacle lenses and other junk he found on the street. he would return home each day to make prints on equally primitive equipment, making only one print from the negatives he selected.he stole intimate glimpses of his subjects through windows & fences and would often draw intricately on each print in pencil. the work, which seems to be intrusive voyeurism, takes on a melancholic and poetic quality. he produced work solely for himself without regard for exhibition or selling the works to others. in july 2004, he won the 'new discovery award' at arles. he has now been exhibited in galleries in london, new york and zurich.