Sand art, Ukrainian's Got Talent.

[Jay]

I was sent this today by email, thought I would share.....

This video shows the winner of 2009's " 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.

An art critic said: "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 is surely

no bigger compliment."

[Boozybloke]

Beautiful, thought provoking and quite moving.

I somehow can't see that appearing on the british version anytime soon

[johnnymack63]

Mesmerising

[Harry Muff]

Interesting that it's about Time moving on and she's using sand, don't you think? Stunning work.

I'd give her one, too.

[budda]

Stunning......

[tootall]

Astonishing.

[stuntmonkee]

Got tears in my eyes after that

[j-maul]

Phhhtt, not as good as my Geordie Grills video

[Pinkbike1]

Stunning! my father was Ukrainian, I could never get him to talk of the war all I know is he lost all his family