Casseyanne Woods

Casseyanne Woods Paintings

Quick Facts

Born: 1996

People: Pitjantjatjara

Country: Central Australia

Art Style: Contemporary Aboriginal Art

Known For: Dreaming-inspired paintings

Themes: Country, Culture, Family & Ancestral Stories

Casseyanne Woods (b. 1996) is one of Australia's most compelling young Aboriginal artists, a woman whose paintings carry the weight of millennia and the warmth of family. Born into a remarkable lineage of Pitjantjatjara painters, Casseyanne creates works that are simultaneously deeply personal and cosmically vast, rooted in Country and Dreaming stories passed through generations of women before her.

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Birth & Family

Casseyanne hails from the remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in South Australia. She grew up in the isolated community of Kanpi, situated roughly 100 kilometres east of the tri-state border where South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory meet, and now lives in Mutitjulu, near Uluru.

She is the granddaughter of Maringka Baker, a senior Pitjantjatjara Elder and one of Australia's most acclaimed Indigenous artists. Her mother, Elaine Woods, is herself a respected painter who took up the brush in 2010 and has carved out a distinguished place within the contemporary Indigenous art movement. The artistic tradition did not stop there; Casseyanne's sisters Julie, Venita, and Janice are also practising artists, and the family frequently paints together, a practice that is as much about cultural transmission as it is about creative collaboration.

This extraordinary lineage also extends to Elaine's uncle, the great Jimmy Baker (c. 1915–2010), one of the most senior and celebrated men in the APY Lands. Both Maringka Baker and Jimmy Baker were featured artists at the Australian National Gallery's Culture Warriors Triennial, a testament to the calibre of artistry that Casseyanne has grown up surrounded by.

Casseyanne Woods Paintings

Artistic Journey

Casseyanne and her sisters were fortunate to learn painting and Dreaming story traditions directly from their grandmother and mother. This kind of knowledge transfer, from Elder to child, on Country, is foundational to Anangu culture. It means that when Casseyanne paints, she is not merely producing an artwork; she is performing an act of cultural stewardship.

The stories, symbols, and songlines embedded in each canvas were not invented; they were inherited. They belong to Country, and Country belongs to them.

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The Art: Minyma Kutjara (Two Women) Dreaming

One of Casseyanne's most significant Dreaming subjects is Minyma Kutjara, the Two Women Dreaming, a story passed down to her through her mother and grandmother, and through generations of women before them across millennia.

The story tells of two sisters on a journey back to their homeland. The older sister travels north to find her younger sibling, who had been living with another family near the sea and had grown unfamiliar with her own Country. Hesitant and uncertain, the younger sister is carried and comforted by her elder, who teaches her the landscape they move through, its waterholes, its sacred sites, its songs.

At places like Punuwara and Irrunytju rockhole, the sisters stop to perform sacred singing and dancing. With every ceremony, the younger sister grows more at ease, more connected, more herself. Eventually, they reach Kaltukatjara (Docker River): home at last.

This is the story Casseyanne paints, a story about belonging, about kinship, about the healing power of returning to Country. Rendered in earthy ochres, rich reds, and intricate dotwork, her canvases pulse with movement and meaning.

Significance & Legacy

Still in her early thirties, Casseyanne Woods is already recognised as one of the APY Lands' most promising emerging voices. Her work reflects both the rigour of traditional Anangu storytelling and the vitality of a new generation confidently carrying that tradition forward. Collectors and galleries across Australia have taken notice, drawn to paintings that are visually arresting and culturally profound in equal measure.

Her art invites viewers into Country, not as spectators, but as witnesses to living culture.

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Discover Casseyanne Woods at Mandel Aboriginal Art Gallery

To view original works by Casseyanne Woods and explore an exceptional collection of authenticated Aboriginal art from across Australia, visit Mandel Aboriginal Art Gallery.

Mandel Aboriginal Art Gallery is dedicated to connecting collectors and art lovers with genuine works from talented Aboriginal artists,  celebrating culture, supporting communities, and bringing the stories of Country to audiences around the world.