Sand painting,Ukraines got talent and World War II

Amazing video of 'Ukraines got talent' winner Kseniya Simonova.

This video shows the winner of "Ukraine’s Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.

The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about £75,000.

She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated.

It is replaced by a woman’s face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman’s face appears.

She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier.

This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house.

In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye.

The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine, resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million.


Kseniya Simonova says:

"I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is used as the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And there’s surely no bigger compliment."

en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Wow....now that is talent!

Beautiful and moving, that was really fantastic.

Truely astounding. I just love pure talent.

I never thought Metallica 'nothin else matters ' sounded so good in classical.

Btw, anyone else think she looks a bit like Winnie Cooper from the Wonder Years

S&F and thankyou for bringing this to my attention.

What did the 3 words mean that she wrote at the end ??

Love Sand Art, have seen it before, thanks for bring this Ukraine artist to us Karl, there is so many amazing artists out there and it's great when some get recognized.
S&F

Thanks for the replies - she certainly is one talented lady and the Metallica music is a nice touch too.
Cheers.