As you’re no doubt aware, the VMAs just happened. In the run-up to the event, Nicki Minaj hit headlines for thinking aloud (and very publicly) about why her video for "Anaconda" didn’t receive a nomination for Best Music Video. Cue Taylor Swift taking it personally, Miley Cyrus having her say, Minaj taking the award for Best Hip-Hop Video and asking Cyrus – in what has become an iconic utterance – "Miley, what’s good".

Many misconstrue the meaning of Minaj, but French artist Camille Henrot has released a series of artworks that paint the rapper in a softer light – reimaginings of "Anaconda" that are reminiscent of Matisse’s work, colourful line drawings of the characters from the video. In an interview with the Guardian, Henrot, who describes her as a "feminist icon", explains why she found herself inspired by the video and Minaj herself.

"I was struck by how radical and majestic it was," she says. "It didn’t seem particularly sexy to me. It seems more like a statement on forgetting stereotypes and embracing yourself. It is vulgar, but it is beautiful. I like to think she created Anaconda to evoke criticism. She has abused the typical ‘black music-video girl’ archetype to the very end, to catch attention and create hate – if only so we too can realise our aversion to the sexualisation of women. I think she is deliberately likening herself to a Barbie, and referencing the fastidiousness of being plastic and fake. She’s making herself a caricature of what people want her to be."

Henrot’s artworks are being shown this month at Baku Public Art Festival in Azerbaijan. See My Anaconda Don’t and He Keep Telling Me It’s Real below.