Linda Stein The making of an artist-activist, feminist Jew

by AMY STONE

inda Stein comes across as one sistants are running, holding hands as even in the absence of heads or arms. fearless artist-activist, but says, they flee her Lower Manhattan studio, Five years later, the minimalist “All my work in the last 30 years in sight of the towering inferno of the torsos evolved into something more isL about protection.” Quite simply, her World Trade Center. clearly political. The message was gen- mission is to defy bullying in all its It took a year before she felt psy- der bending — muscular black leather forms and stand up to a compendium of chologically able to return to sculpture. torsos that cross sexual boundaries and evils: sexism, homophobia, racism, clas- Before 9/11, her work, which involved wearable armor using acrylicized pa- sism, ableism. using machete blades and other found per. Protection was now bound up with With her spiky red hair and ath- objects, had been abstract. Now, female what Stein calls “the fluidity of gender.” letic build, she doesn’t look like some- forms were emerging — giant vertical She says, “We don’t have to stick one who grew up scared. But through- shapes with waists, hips and breasts. In to the binaries of what makes a man out her childhood, she had a recurring 2002, they became her Knights of Pro- and what makes a woman.” Indeed, her dream of “running, always running, But tection — elegant mounted torsos of work celebrates the fluidity of gender the bad guys never got me.” wood, metal, stone and leather. Modern and tears down all types of gender ste- Quick cut to 9/11. Stein and her as- Aphrodites, they are powerful figures, reotypes that people accept unquestion- Photos courtesy of Linda Stein except where indicated.

Stein joins protective female figures (right to left) Kannon, Buddhist goddess of mercy; pop icon Princess Mononoke; Wonder Woman; and Stein’s Knight of Protection sculpture.

18 NA’AMAT WOMAN SPRING 2015 ingly as natural. She speaks of “gender constructions and gender constric- tions,” and that her work is “WOULD YOU WEAR A about finding the courage to break these molds and inspire BATHING SUIT TO FIGHT that bravery in others. The androgynous black THE BAD GUYS?” torsos are highly erotic, made of skin-tight leather. With their breasts, flaring hips and mighty build, they defy male/female stereotypes. They could be elegant Renaissance figures or headless mo- torcycle gangs. Adding identity to the black leather torsos are scav- enged materials: elabo- rate metal latches, a brass NYPD pin, heavy chains, buckles, zip- pers and the visual pun of CO2 cartridges for making not war but seltzer. Art Wonder Woman is a primary protector on Stein’s historian Christina M. Penn-Goetsch “bully-proof” vests. has suggested that the zippers are like scars. With titles like “Tough Love 683,” “Defender 696” and “In Charge 694,” their sex is in the eye of the beholder. Linda Stein lays hands on her body-swapping armor “Heroic Compassion 665,” with its Stein’s other more lighthearted Flu- Monoxnoke, Japanese warrior girl and Wonder Woman images. (2010) idity of Gender sculptures, the acryli- fearless protector of the environment; cized paper forms, are made, in part, and Kannon, the sometimes androgy- from Wonder Woman comics updated nous Buddhist goddess of mercy and to include her own feminist messages. compassion. Wonder Woman is the pri- post-Marston “bullet-breasted sex ob- It’s easier to ask questions like “What mary protector on Stein’s “bully-proof” ject in swimsuit.” As one of Stein’s up- defines bravery? What makes a hero?” vests displayed in her Tribeca studio. dated Wonder Woman cartoon bubbles from inside a cartoon message balloon. Explaining the appeal of Wonder Wom- reads, “Would you wear a bathing suit Wonder Woman, wearing knee-high an, Stein says, “I love her because she’s to fight the bad guys?” red boots and American flag swimsuit, strong, she’s mobile, she avenges wrongs The heavy metal chains on Stein’s asks: “What are masculine/feminine ex- without killing.” black leather torsos may riff on Mar- pectations and limitations?” Stein says she works intuitively. ston’s proclivity for placing Wonder Wonder Woman is joined on Stein’s Then once a creative direction mate- Woman in chains. Certainly Wonder armor by anime pop icon Princess rializes, she digs deep. She’s embraced Woman’s muscular thighs and skimpy the original Wonder Woman superhero garb provide perfect material for Stein’s created by William Moulton Marston, mission to use art to break down soci- the eccentric Harvard-educated psy- ety’s masculine/feminine divisions. “WHAT ARE chologist and inventor of the proto- In navigating the great divide, type polygraph (lie detector). His 1941 Stein herself has evolved. Growing up MASCULINE/FEMININE World War II superhero is the lone in a working class family in the Bronx, female in the superhero pantheon. The she tried to fit into traditional female Amazonian warrior come to Earth to expectations, stuffing nylons into the EXPECTATIONS AND right wrongs, she is protected by her bra of her hand-me-down swimsuit to indestructible Bracelets of Submission, emulate her pin-up girl older sister. At LIMITATIONS?” Lasso of Truth (a spinoff of Marston’s the same time, she describes herself as polygraph) and weaponized tiara. Never having been “very, very athletic,” exhila- killing, she fights for peace, love, justice rated playing hard against the most ath- and sexual equality. Stein rejects the letic boys, those who she knew could

SPRING 2015 NA’AMAT WOMAN 19 beat her. The price she paid was bully- HAWT was incorporated as a non- adult, Stein managed to find her victim ing in the form of ostracism by other profit six years later. Board members and apologize to her. Apology accepted. girls. But, she recalls, “If a boy was a include Gloria Steinem and Elizabeth She says, “If only I had been like one of weaker athlete than me, it was my job A. Sackler, whose foundation gave the my gender-fluid sculptural Knights of to see that he won anyway. … I grew Brooklyn Museum its Center for Femi- Protection for Carole.” up at a time when boys were supposed nist Art, home of Judy Chicago’s “The Participants in HAWT events are to be (or at least appear to be) better, Dinner Party.” invited to put on what Stein calls “body- stronger, smarter than girls. If a girl Not mere self-promotion, Stein says swapping armor” and try a new avatar

wanted to be popular, she learned very Amy Stone quickly that it was her responsibility to play out this masculinist scenario.” Stein accepted that “the male ego took precedence” over hers — and she was proud at the time to have learned her gender lesson well. Stein went on to become the first member of her family to go to college. She got her B.A. degree from Queens College, City University of New York, and her M.A. degree in art and educa- tion from Pratt Institute. Explaining how she has managed to escape the heterosexual binary, she says, “I was straight for much of my growing up days until I was 40.” But, “I couldn’t fulfill my potential as much with a man as with a woman.” In 2007, the same year that The Fluidity of Gender co- alesced, she married Helen Hardacre, Reischauer Institute Professor of Japa- nese Religions and Society at Harvard. Stein says it took courage to come out Stein, in bully-proof vest, poses with her tapestry of Holocaust hero Vitka Kempner, a leader of to her mother, who, as it turned out, the partisan fighters in the Vilna ghetto. The work combines Kempner images and memorabilia with fabric, zippers and Wonder Woman images. needed less protection from the truth than Stein had anticipated. Professionally, everything Stein that HAWT’s purpose is to inspire to get in touch with their inner courage, does is part of her outreach project people to live fearlessly. She sees anti- to swap bodies and shift genders. With Have Art Will Travel! Inc. For Gen- bullying as the lens for viewing the evils Velcro straps and “armordillo” articulat- der Justice (HAWT). Started in 1972, we live with to then confront them. ed legs, The Fluidity of Gender armor Bringing the message to museums and is meant to be worn. Interactive events, colleges, The Fluidity of Gender torsos an extensive catalog, panels, discussions and armor have been on the road with and videos are part of the traveling ex- Have Art Will Travel since 2010 and will hibit, all for the purpose of inspiring continue into 2017. change. Stein wants to move participants While the written messages can through what she calls the 4 Bs: from sound a bit clichéd, visitors to the ex- Bully, Bullied, Bystander to Brave Up- hibit are responding at schools and stander, ready to stand up against bullies museums across the country, espe- and to develop the courage to risk failure cially once they find themselves inside and unpopularity. Her experience has knight’s armor. In Joplin, Missouri, a shown, she says, that “using art to inspire woman farmer thanked Stein, saying, participants to explore their own roles “You’re the first feminist I’ve ever heard and behavior can help them become Up- speak here.” standers in their everyday lives.” In Johnstown, New York, a male She’s come clean on her own bul- theater major tried on the androgynous Stein adds feminist concerns to the cartoon lying. In junior high, she was president armor. Later he wrote Stein, “I have bubbles of Wonder Woman images. of the I Hate Carole Club, mean girls come to the idea that gender is just a picking on a hapless classmate. As an thing that they say you are and you can

20 NA’AMAT WOMAN SPRING 2015 be what you want to be. … I feel much stronger now walking around campus as a young gay male because of the em- powerment you provided me.” A graduate student in art education and women’s studies at Penn State Uni- versity brought her husband and two sons, 9 and 12, to the Fluidity of Gen- der show. Trying on black leather armor with breasts, her husband felt naked. Her own reaction in Wonder Woman armor: “Man, if I could wear this armor every day, I would feel so tough and protected.”

Knight of Tomorrow 542 is one of Stein’s Knights of Protection series begun after 9/11.

Hannah Senesh is one of the 10 fierce females inspiring Stein’s Holocaust Heroes tapestries.

Assessing the impact of Have Art sufficiently recognized for their bravery Will Travel, Stein says, “If I reach a few during the Holocaust. She sees the proj- people at each place, it’s thrilling.” ect as a way to empower exhibit-goers to resist scapegoating and discrimina- ow, she’s finally digging into her tion in their own lives and to stand up Judaism. Stein describes her family for victims. asN Jewish but not religious. In her youth, Stein recounts a related dream she dressed up for the Jewish holidays, from her childhood: “The Nazis were and she felt pride in her Judaism as a re- rounding up the Jews again. They got sult of the Six-Day War. Now, Stein says, me and took me to a room and told me she is obsessed with the Holocaust. I was going to be, along with the oth- She is currently at work on Ho- ers, electrocuted. ‘You can electrocute locaust box sculptures — a series of me,’ I said, ‘but I want you to know that “Spoon and Shell” tableaux using found I have, as I had in the last Holocaust, objects. The spoons and shells are met- electrical insurance!’ ” aphors for protection and nourishment The fierce females in Stein’s tapes- and a reminder of the impossible choic- tries have no insurance. Most are oper- es that many women faced during the ating on sheer nerve, standing up to the Holocaust. The inspiration comes from Nazi murder machine to protect others the story of Leah, a Birkenau inmate rather than themselves. who had the inner strength to resist a Emerging from thousands of hours Polish prisoner’s offer of a spoon, a life- of research, Stein’s choices include 10 saving item, in exchange for her body. women who represent different aspects The box sculptures and series of 10 of bravery during the Holocaust. Some tapestries will form Holocaust Heroes: are familiar icons — for example, Anne Fierce Females. An essential part of Frank and Hannah Senesh. Others not Stein’s message: Women have not been quite so well known are Ruth Gruber,

SPRING 2015 NA’AMAT WOMAN 21 the American journalist, last surviving radio of weapons and ammunition for the ad- photographer and hu- operator sent from vancing Allied Armies. At the same manitarian who docu- Britain to aid the time, she set up communication net- mented the life of sur- French resistance. works and harassed the Germans, who vivors in post-liberation Vitka Kempner, less code-named the elusive agent “the Europe; Zivia Lubetkin, well known than white mouse.” She lived to 98, enjoy- one of the leaders of the her famous hus- ing six gins a day until a heart attack Jewish underground in band, was a leader of late in life forced her to cut back. the Warsaw Ghetto; and the United Partisan As an artist and activist, Stein re- Hadassah Bimko Rosen- Organization’s armed mains determined to stay true to her saft, who saved hundreds resistance in the Vilna choice of Holocaust heroes. When of Jewish women from the ghetto. She fought criticism surfaces over some of these gas chambers in Auschwitz, alongside founder fierce females not being strictly Holo- where she worked in the Abba Kovner, whom caust figures, she digs in to explain her “infirmary.” she later married. work. The tapestries are up for discus- Among the less fa- Fearless in combat, sion but not for censorship. miliar is Noor Inayat she was the first The tapestries in somber tones, Khan, born in a Moscow woman to play a measuring five feet by five feet, incorpo- monastery to an Ameri- role in blowing up rate found objects and materials, such can mother and an In- a Nazi train. as leather, metal, canvas, paint and fab- dian Sufi priest father. Also less fa- ric. Possibly as a nod to her father, who Trained in London as a miliar is Nancy worked in the garment industry, old fab- Special Operations Ex- Wake, one gutsy rics are worked into each tapestry. ecutive agent, she was the dame. Born in Zippers, first embedded in Fluidity , she of Gender, are part of the unzipping of was a British these heroes’ stories. Buckles and purse Knight of New Thoughts 667 agent who worked straps are also familiar from Stein’s ear- empowers the wearer with with the French lier work. Wonder Woman images and Resistance. In prep- Within the tapestries, Stein’s updated cartoon messages. aration for D-Day, fierce Holocaust females coexist with One reads: YOU’RE A STRONG she was parachuted pop icons. Wonder Woman is joined BOY … IT’S FUN TO DEFEAT YOU! into to collect by Princess Mononoke and Kannon. night parachute drops Tapping into multi-generational cul-

The Accidental Upstander ike everyone else in the subway car, subway. Act civilized.” LI am ignoring the four teenage girls One girl: “What right does that lady fighting with each other. In New York, have to talk to me?” you don’t mess with something that Another girl: “She’s right.” could trigger racism, classism or worse. They stop fighting. One girl has another in a Who knows what happened once stranglehold. The strangled girl breaks they got off the subway. loose, screaming, “I’m going to kill you.” But, unexpectedly, Linda Stein’s They go back to pummeling each message of standing up to bullying other. has transformed me from Bystander to A third girl: “We’re in a subway. Act Brave Upstander — standing up against civilized.” bullies. More fighting. That felt good. I’m up for more. Wish No agonizing over whether to get me luck. involved. I just stand up, walk over to — Amy Stone them and say, “She’s right. You’re in a Na’amat Woman’s fearless correspondent Amy Stone in Stein’s body-swapping armor.

22 NA’AMAT WOMAN SPRING 2015 tural connections, Stein has added Printing plates from the days of hot With no central focus, the tapestries Storm of Marvel Comics X-Men; Lis- metal typesetting nest into each tapes- display pictures of the fierce females beth Salander of The Girl With the try. The enigmatic reverse letters that in their youth and, for those who sur- Dragon Tattoo renown; and Lady Gaga, are part of the bygone printing process vived the Holocaust, into their old who’s endowed an anti-bullying foun- become part of the layers of the heroes’ age. We see Hannah Senesh in mili- dation at Harvard. Stein sees combin- identity. The heavy metal also links to tary uniform before her parachute ing pop culture heroes with Holocaust Stein’s own past as a calligrapher whose jump into enemy territory. What a heroes as a way of making the histori- clients included Tiffany, Cartier and the surprise to see the entrancing figure cal women more relevant and starting International Monetary Fund. of the adolescent Senesh holding out a conversation. She says, “A lot of peo- In these dark tapestries, the he- the long skirt of a white satin dress ple will say that Lisbeth Salander is too roes’ pale faces stand out, black-and- like a bird’s wings or an unfurled violent. That’s a discussion I invite.” white photos transferred to canvas. parachute. As part of her own education, Stein is putting together a catalog for the project with essays by a distinguished and diverse range of writers. Collector Raymond Learsy has al- ready acquired the Anne Frank tapestry from the preliminary exhibit of Holo- caust Heroes at Flomenhaft, the Man- hattan gallery that represents Stein. Learsy and his wife, Melva Bucksbaum, serve on the board of trustees of the Whitney Museum of American Art and regularly appear on the ARTnews list of the world’s top 200 collectors. With Holocaust tragedy in his own past, Learsy says that Stein’s tapestry “cap- tures in a very sensitive way a very grim but historic moment.” Like all her HAWT projects, Ho- locaust Heroes: Fierce Females will in- clude panelists, videos and interactive events and will be available to museums and schools. Stein wants to get people thinking about the opportunities in their daily lives to stand up for victims of bullying. She says: “We have to protect all kinds of people — people from different races, sexes, classes.” She sees everyday bullying taken to the extreme as perse- cution on the grand scale of the Holo- caust. She explains, “What I want more than anything is to begin a discussion.” Stein, artist-activist, is certainly not timid in taking on the evils that even Super Woman couldn’t extinguish. But what happens if a bad guy slips into Stein’s protective armor? Is he trans- formed or does evil get shielded? In all likelihood, this is a challenge Stein is ready to take on.

Amy Stone is a founder of Lilith magazine A participant tries on Stein’s androgynous armor during a Fluidity of Gender event, part of and blogs for Lilith at www.lilith.org. She Have Art Will Travel at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. lives in New York City.

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