The View Shifts

Tatiana Germendia

Tatiana Garmendia is a figurative artist with a conceptual edge, weaving formal technique with a deep humanist engagement in history and culture. Born in Cuba at the height of the Cold War, she recalls childhood games in abandoned missile trenches—an early brush with the intersection of personal and political narratives. In her work, history unfolds as both national mythology and private memory, shaped by the stories we tell others and whisper to ourselves.

For over three decades, Garmendia has taught painting at Seattle Central College while exhibiting her work across the U.S. and internationally in England, Italy, Germany, Mexico, and India. A 2019 Neddy at Cornish finalist for painting, she has also received prestigious honors, including the Cintas International Fellowship, two Artist Trust Fellowships, and Pollock-Krasner Fellowship. Her work resides in public collections from Seattle to New York, Washington D.C. to Miami, and beyond, reaching as far as the Dominican Republic.