Kseniya Simonova

Kseniya Oleksandrivna Paskar (Ксенія Олександрівна Паскар; née Simonova; Си́монова; born 22 April 1985) is a Ukrainian performance artist who does sand animation, graphic design, illustration, cinema, and literature.

Simonova was born in 1985, in Yevpatoria, a town on the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine, which was then a part of the Soviet Union.

Her mother, Irina Simonova, is an artist, a theatrical designer and teacher of fine arts.

Her father, Alexander Simonov, is a former military officer who runs a business in furniture design.

Since she was a child, Kseniya painted, drew and designed with her mother.

Simonova's parents discouraged her from a career as an artist.

She explained, "It is a constant struggle. I knew that and was ready for it. If you chose this profession, you're struggling all your life. You do not enjoy everyday life - like comfort, and buying furniture... You're always looking for something more, and actually, I was never interested in a life of comfort and buying furniture."

In 2002, Simonova pursued a major in psychology and graduated from the Tavrida National V.I. Vernadsky University in 2007 with honors and a scientific specialization in psychophysiology.

While studying these sciences, Simonova also entered the Ukrainian Academy of Printing in 2003, where she studied graphic design.

Since 2006 Simonova has worked for the magazine Crimean Riviera as an artist.

In 2007 Simonova married Igor Paskar, a theatre director, journalist and magazine editor.

They have two sons.

In 2007, Simonova and Paskar launched a bilingual magazine, Chocolate in English and Russian, which ceased production a year later due to the financial crisis.

Sand performance was suggested by Paskar.

Initially, Simonova was unsure but decided to try it in the absence of other viable options to improve the family's financial situation.

When tests with both beach and river sands proved to be unsuitable, Paskar researched better options on the Internet, and sold his printing equipment to buy three kilograms of expensive volcanic sand.

Paskar suggested to Simonova that she should enter the competition Ukraine's Got Talent, where the prize was ₴1 million, the equivalent of US$110,000, and she 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.

She 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 Simonova 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."

Kseniya passed the semi-finals and moved on to the finals.

In the third round, she performed a sand story: Don't be too late!

Kseniya was declared the winner of the competition and collected 100,000 euros.

The Guardian called her an online phenomenon after the video of her performance was viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube.

After the competition, she became an international artist performer and began giving sand art performances in different countries of the world.

With the money they won, Simonova and Paskar bought a house in Yevpatoria, and received invitations internationally to perform.

She graduated in 2008, six months after giving birth to her first son.

She holds the title of Merited Artist of Ukraine and rose to prominence in 2009 after winning Ukraine's Got Talent.

Since 2009, Simonova has been performing her sand animation stories in different countries of the world, particularly in Europe, China, Qatar, India, Australia, Thailand, and Bhutan.

She introduced her art at various events – from the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011 to the Champion League Final Gala in Milan in 2016.

Simonova has performed in the presence of presidents and royalty in different countries.

Among her audience were President of Malta George Abela; Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark; Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand, Princess Marie of Denmark; Princess Lalla Hasna of Morocco; Members of British Royal Family and others.

Simonova graduated from the Artistic School of Yevpatoria and studied at the School of Fine Arts, where she wrote research papers on English folk poetry and 15th and 16th century English folk songs and ballads.

She also translated folk poetry and poets, including William Shakespeare, Robert Burns and George Gordon Byron.

She is the only one to receive two Golden Buzzers on two different "The Champions" series of the Got Talent franchise: America's Got Talent: The Champions and Britain's Got Talent: The Champions, both in 2019.

In 2019, Simonova participated in America's Got Talent: The Champions auditions.

When her performance ended, she got the golden buzzer from host Terry Crews, which sent her directly to the finals of the competition.

Her performance in the finals, Love Always Wins, was well-received by the judges.