Kate Woods was born in Tāmaki Makaurau in 1981 and is based there. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland University (2002).

Kate has exhibited widely in artist-run spaces, dealer and public galleries including: Le Lieu Unique: Centre for Contemporary Culture, Nantes, France ; XYZ Collective, Tokyo ; Canterbury Museum ; City Gallery Wellington and Dunedin Public Art Gallery. In 2012 she was the recipient of an Asia: NZ foundation artist residency at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in Beijing, China. In 2002, she was awarded the 4th year Elam painting prize and in 2000 won the Young Mt Eden Artists Award overall and photography prize.

Through her constructed photography and video works Kate creates imaginary landscapes or alternate worlds. In past work she investigated the documentary photography of 60s and 70s Land Art in the way some of the images tend to give the sense of a non-space, or at least a space that can never be physically accessed, as it may not exist anymore. Places you will never arrive in yet seem familiar. Her current work continues her interest in the art history of the last century related to the environment and the documentation of the ephemeral