BODY-SWAPPING, EMPOWERMENT AND EMPATHY: LINDA STEIN S SCULPTURE As she concluded her May 2009 keynote address to the National Association of Women Artists, Linda Stein remarked, Gender constructions and gender constrictions. How do we find the courage, the bravery to break these molds? Her series of Knights, begun in 2002, guides the viewer toward empowerment in the face of sexism, homophobia, racism, and other forms of institutionalized oppression. Since 2007, the Knights have evolved from static totemic personages mounted on the wall to suits of armor animated by their wearers. They are trickster figures in their shape-shifting potentialities.