Indomitable punk-priestess Patti Smith escaped for a few months to the City of Light where she has been writing a book, curating an art show and talking up Patti Smith: Dream of Life, a documentary 11 years in the making. Here, Ray Rogers chats with the fiery icon about inspiration, immortality and what Smith refers to as the “delight” of fashion.

Adjusting the bellows of her vintage Polaroid camera, Patti Smith squints into the exceptionally bright early evening light of a hot summer night in Paris. A wheelbarrow full of wet cement glistening in the sun has caught her eye. We’re outside the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art in Paris, where Smith has been ensconced in a fourth floor office for the past three months, overseeing her “Land 250” art show, so named for the make of Polaroid she uses and the number of photos in the multi-media exhibit at the Foundation’s downstairs gallery. She spends a few moments tinkering with the frame, but can’t quite get the angle she wants, so it’s back up to the office. Time is running short. Tomorrow, she will leave the City of Light and embark on a summer tour with her band, so a few hours this afternoon are spent boxing up her belongings.