Kseniya Simonova

By ⋅ September 25, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment
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We don’t normally focus on the visual on this radio program. But something caught our eye this past week that’s almost entirely visual. And yet, it’s so beautiful and breathtaking that we want to tell you about it.

By the way — we’ve posted a video at “the world dot org” so you can see what we’re about to describe. Now — you’ve heard of Britain’s Got Talent and America’s Got Talent… right?

The winners and finalists of those shows tend to be singers and dancers. Along the way, you may find other bizarre contestants: magicians who regurgitate a deck of cards, chainsaw sculptors, a woman who can play two recorders through her nose. They usually don’t get far…surprise surprise.

But on “Ukraine’s Got Talent” — yes Ukraine hosts one of these shows too — the weird is also the wonderful. Kseniya Simonova won this year’s edition of the show, and earned the top prize of 120,000 dollars.

Her talent? She’s a sand artist.

She magically glides her fingers through sand covering a light box –moving the sand to conjure images that then melt hypnotically into other images, all while the music plays.

Simonova’s winning real-time animation depicted the Nazi invasion of Ukraine in World War Two. It’s a poignant — and politically charged tale to relate on a talent show. One in four Ukrainians died by the end of that war.

Simonova’s story begins with a couple sitting on a bench, holding hands. Soon warplanes appear and the idyllic scene is destroyed. Simonova replaces the scene with a woman crying.

Then warplanes arrive again. A weeping widow morphs into a monument to an Unknown Soldier. The final picture she creates is of a mother and child bidding a sad farewell to a man with his hands pressed against the glass.

When Kseniya Simonova completed her sand art, the audience and judges of Ukraine’s Got Talent were in tears and on their feet. And since the performance appeared on You Tube, more than TWO million people worldwide have watched Simonova at work.

Discussion

12 comments for “Kseniya Simonova”

  • Paolo Lilla

    Absolutely fantastic. Thank you for broadcasting the video!

    • Joan Gius

      Thank you Paolo. I never would have found this video if you hadn’t posted a comment. I miss you.

  • Dan Roberts

    Unbelievably beautiful video. Thanks for the link, it`s this type of segment that makes The World one of the finest features on all of public radio. Thank you.

  • http://www.pc-land.com/bettydurham Betty

    Ms Simonova, Thank you for this wonderful work. I am still weeping for us all. We must somehow stop hurting each other so much. As an artist you have power to teach and to touch. Please keep working. Betty (a 70 year old artist)

  • scott

    This was my first exposure to this form of art. The performance made me recommit to mine. If art may be thought of as a form of truth telling, she has it.

  • Sara

    Thanks for sharing your wonderful talent! Spectacular!

  • Alex

    I am from Ukraine. I was wathing this show… It’s undescrible. She is making for the waking up human soul more than all the artists of Ukraine. All we have to remember this terible War…

  • Roumi

    This is absolutely extraodinary!!! I believe it is equally moving to those who know history and the language and for those who do not as well. I have never seen anything like that. Weeping I was on Friday, listening to te report on NPR and today, seeing the video. Spectacular and powerful!!!
    I ma telling everybody about it!

  • Troy

    Thank you for a most personal and transformational experience. Her art is extraordinary and it is so wonderful to witness the creative process so sensitively presented without all the hype. Needs more visibility.

  • Dr. Paul Dumas Jr.

    If prophesy is revealing the Very heart of God, it may be that this young woman portrays That which, cannot fully be captured by words, only ~ yet which “can” be, and ought to be experienced. Like the smoke of offerings, that lead our hearts onward and upward, as they rise and then vanish, these images lead us, at once, beyond ourselves as well as to our senses — Moved by “acting prophesy,” and zeal for that which is Good. The witness here commended comes to us through the “Ars” of one who is evidently disciplined, purposed in mission, whose medium becomes a Message, with unescapable claims, to-day.

  • Cesar

    Beautiful work!

    However, as the son of a Ukrainian woman who fled Ukraine during World War II, the writer’s implication that the Nazis were responsible for the deaths of 1/4 of Ukraine’s population does not apportion the blame very well. In fact, Ukraine was caught between Germany’s advance against Russia and Russia’s long-time desire to wipe Ukraine, and those who would advance her sovereignty, off the face of the earth. To this day, Russia and Ukraine still feud as is evidenced by the yearly squabbles over gas, and Russia’s attempt to install a puppet president in the form of Victor Yanukhovych.

    My mother will tell you that in her specific case, the German forces treated her and her family properly (as one would expect non-combatant refugees to be treated), and actually allowed her safe passage to Austria where she was able to flee once and for all the evil that was the USSR.

    The war was a terrifying and deadly time for many, but let’s not forget that Russia and the Soviet Union in general contributed equally, if not more so, to the devastation in Ukraine. Russian propaganda has turned that reality on its head, but those who managed to escape and were not subjected to the propaganda can still remember the truth.

  • Jeffrey

    I am moved to surmise that Kseniya’s own remarkably pure dedication to liberation and truth allows her to be an exquisitely adept channel for divine/celestial intelligence, gifts, and capacities.