Kseniya Simonova
Kseniya Simonova (Ukrainian: Ксенія Симонова; married name: Kseniya Paskar, Ксенія Паскар) is the 2009 winner of the TV contest Ukraine’s Got Talent, which is part of the Got Talent series. She is a performance artist in sand animation and a philanthropist.
On December 4, 2009, Simonova presented the first Sand Picture Exhibition. In 2010, she founded an International Cultural Center “Sand Club” in the Crimean city of Yevpatoria.
Her husband, Igor, suggested that she should enter the competition Ukraine’s Got Talent, where the prize was one million hryvna, the equivalent of $110,000. Kseniya decided to enter.
She presented a two minute sand story and was selected as a semi-finalist. She wanted to perform a sand story about World War II, but the producers encouraged her to choose a more popular theme. Kseniya refused, saying, “I just want to bring some immortal sense to this show. Not just pictures or video clips. Something close to all hearts.”
The sand story Kseniya presented live on TV was an eight minute story of a young couple separated by the war.
In an interview she said, “It was so emotionally hard, and I now still can not think about those minutes without pain… My hands were dying and reviving making the images.”
