Migration can define generations. Moving to a new place forces families to change as they choose what to pass forward, and what to leave behind in the name of adapting to their new surroundings.

Artist Christie Tirado’s life is defined by migration. Her parents grew up in neighboring towns in Mexico but met after they both immigrated to California in the 1980s.

Tirado grew up in the U.S. but traveled to visit family in Mexico every couple of years. On these trips, she became fascinated with how culture is passed down.

For the past three years, she’s been traveling to Tarimoro, Guanajuato, visiting her grandfather and her father’s rancho, La Cañada de los Tirados. She’s been collecting stories — little moments that make up a life.

“There’s these stories of my grandparents, you know, harvesting their guayaba and then taking their guayabas in the crates and going to the mercado and selling their guayabas in the mercado and then not going back home until all those guayabas were sold,” Tirado says.

She used those moments as inspiration for her art. Now, Tirado’s intricately carved relief block prints are featured in an exhibit called “Cosechando Historias,” showing at Milwaukee’s Latino Arts gallery.

“You pick up on things that are very subtle that feed into and make up who you are, and a lot of those things are your family’s background, where you’re from, certain mannerisms that you’re just like, ‘Why does my mom act this way?’ And it’s like you go back to her rancho or her community and you’re like ‘Oh I see my great aunt or so and so acts the same way,’” Tirado says.

Tirado’s father came to the U.S. looking for better economic opportunities. Her mother accompanied her mother to a new country at only 16 years old and began working in a garment factory. Her parents met while living in Los Angeles.

Tirado was born in California, but her family moved many times, following work opportunities until they finally settled in Tacoma, Washington. Tirado is now pursuing a master’s in fine arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She put together this exhibit for her thesis.