Say graffiti and one thinks of young punks armed with spray cans and playing hide-and- seek with the police.

So French street artist Miss.Tic, 54, does not fit into the stereotype of graffiti makers, not the least because of her gender and age.

But she and her assistant have been chased all over the arrondissements of Paris by the police while operating in the dead of night in spring and summer. She even had a gun pointed at her back by a cop and was arrested in 1998.

'We were working on a low piece on a wall, so we were bent down and suddenly, I felt something sticking in my back and I just froze. There was no sound, no warning, just the gun.' she recalled.

She was hauled to court and brought to trial in a high-profile case, which turned her into a cause celebre. She was fined €4,500. Ironically, the trial boosted her profile, so much so that she has now collaborated with brands such as Kenzo, Comme des Garcons, Longchamp and Louis Vuitton to create limited-edition products such as postcards and T-shirts.

Her works are also part of collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and, in 2006, she participated in the Venice Biennale. Now, she is in Singapore exhibiting her Parisienne series at the Ion Gallery until May 16 as part of the Voilah! French Festival.

Her images, life-sized silhouettes of women staring defiantly at the viewer, are accompanied by pithy sayings such as 'Fear what you wish for - wish what you fear'. They are created using stencils which she makes in her apartment.

'My words are sometimes social commentary but I also like to feature freedom, love, sex and eroticism and a lot of thought goes into the poetry of the words,' she explained to Life! through a translator.

She began creating pochoirs, as stencil art is called, in 1985, when she discovered the form while dating a fellow street artist. Known only by her pseudonym Miss.Tic, she steadfastly refuses to reveal her real name. The former poet, newspaper critic and street-theatre performer is well aware of the value of mystery.

'For many years, I refused to be photographed because people didn't understand my work. I would rather remain unknown, and as the lunatic who paints at night,' she said.

'So, until today, there are people who still think I'm a man or I'm part of a group.'

She started out stenciling only self portraits because 'I lacked imagination on how to give my texts an illustration', she said with a touch of self-deprecation. But in the last two years, she has started painting men and couples because of a boyfriend whom she coyly named as her muse.

His job, she added, erupting into girly laughter, is 'just to be my lover'.

When asked if she will mark Singapore with one of her figures to commemorate her first visit, she said, smiling: 'No. Not without authorisation.'