Putiputi Konukura, sculpture

PUTIPUTI KONUKURA, is a scultpure my Misha Milovanovich, from a new body of work started in 2024.
Artist Statement: "In the midst of these turbulent times, my work finds new life by reclaiming neglected land—revitalizing it with vibrant plants and flowers, cultivating vegetables, and sharing the harvest with low-income families. This work is deeply tied to my Serbian heritage, where farming and natural medicine are intertwined cultural practices. The sculptures that emerge from this process are not imposed upon the landscape, but rather arise from it organically, blurring the boundaries between art-making, labor, and the socio-environmental context in which they exist. Through this action, I seek to explore the intersection of feminism, spirituality, materiality, heritage, and the role of art as a form of activism."

Drawing on the Māori term "konukura" (copper) and the cultural symbolism of putiputi (flower), Milovanovich crafts a work that bridges her Serbian heritage with a global language of interconnectedness. Rooted in her practice of land stewardship—reclaiming neglected land, nurturing it with plants, flowers, and vegetables, and sharing the harvest with the wider community—the sculpture becomes a nexus of ecological, cultural, and spiritual meaning. Putiputi Konukura resists the conventional imposition of art upon its environment. Instead, it arises organically from the rhythms of labor and care embedded in Milovanovich’s practice.