On paper, Tracey Emin is an intimidating force. After gaining notoriety with her work Everyone I Have Ever Slept With in 1995, being shortlisted for the Turner Prize with My Bed in 1999, not to mention belong to the Young British Artists movement, she continues to be one of our most prolific and prominent artists in the UK.

Her most famous artwork depicted her real-life bed - littered with condoms, stained underwear and cigarettes. Many scoffed as its status as a significant work of art, but were eating their words when it sold last year for £2.2 million.

Like all our favourite women Tracey has a lot to say for herself and isn't shy about sharing her opinions.

A recent interview on motherhood, in which she said that becoming a mother would have compromised her work as an artist, prompted an interesting and passionate debate. And she famously walked out during a live discussion about the Turner Prize on Channel 4 in 1999 after she said she was drunk and wanted to be with her friends and call her mum.

But, when Stylist.co.uk spoke to Tracey about her design for this year's Brit Awards statue (following in the footsteps of Philip Treacy and Damien Hirst), we found a softly-spoken woman who is, among many things, full of wisdom and insight about the way we live now.

You previously said you’d been criticised by the press for being a woman. Do you still feel like that?

I think people have got a bit softer towards me because obviously I’m not going anywhere. You know, they can do what they want but it’s not going to send me away anywhere and I think they realised that. At the end of the day, if someone’s working really hard, even if they don’t like what I’m doing you’ve got to respect people who work hard. It’s getting better for me personally but for women in general there’s still a massive gap out there to get things more equal.

Did you see the Kim Kardashian Paper magazine cover? Do you consider that art?

It’s not in my psyche. It’s just not what I’m into. I’m not interested. She can do what she likes.

Do you think our pop culture icons celebrate women’s bodies or is it harmful?

It depends on how they’re doing it. If they’re doing it in a harmful way and they're under commercial pressures then it’s wrong but if they enjoy it and they want to go for it, then do it. I just think if I had teenage daughters I would just trust that they’re intelligent and they wouldn’t do things that I might not find very pleasing. Everyone has a different attitude towards it but I think the best thing is just to be rational.

In the interview you did for Stylist with Joan Collins, you said you admired Louise Bourgeois for her work. Who else are you inspired by?

I really respect women who work hard and work hard to change people’s perspective of things. As for someone like Joan, they don’t make women like that anymore. When she walks into the room, everyone turns.

Tracey Emin on feminism, Kim Kardashian and household chores