Undercover flight

Undercover flight

Kate Coolahan is a printmaker and papermaker. She began experimenting with handmade papers in the early 1970s, and in 1977 was accepted on a government-sponsored cultural exchange to Japan where she studied under washi paper master craftsman Eishiro Abe. Houhere (lacebark), cotton and Mexican agave formed the substrate of many of her prints, and a piece of this paper is used as an important component within this work.

Undercover flight is an extension of Coolahan’s later experiments with paper assemblages. It incorporates textiles from old blankets, stockings and silk sheets—materials that Coolahan associated with women’s domestic selves—strung up with sticks and twine. Undercover flight was originally installed over a floor-heating structure so that the work appeared to breathe and flap.

The title, Undercover flight, addresses a recurring idea within Coolahan’s work: freedom of imagination and from the societal limitations placed upon women. Coolahan was an advocate of the women’s movement and often addressed their collective struggles in her work. The work suggests an obstinate act of subterfuge within the confines of the everyday.

— Amy Weng, 2023