Ukraine's Got Talent? This much we already knew. There's Mikhail Bulgakov, Olga Kurylenko and the Klitschko brothers. We can now add Kseniya Simonova to that list who has won the Ukrainian version of Britain's Got Talent with sand animation. Yes, you heard right. She tells stories through sand.

Here, she recounts Germany conquering Ukraine in the second world war. She brings calm, then conflict. A couple on a bench become a woman's face; a peaceful walkway becomes a conflagration; a weeping widow morphs into an obelisk for an unknown soldier. Simonova looks like some vengeful Old Testament deity as she destroys then recreates her scenes - with deft strokes, sprinkles and sweeps she keeps the narrative going. She moves the judges to tears as she subtitles the final scene "you are always near".

Simonova is a real piece of work. Watching her in action calls to mind Rolf Harris ("can you tell what it is yet?") and his passion for popularising art. Yet you wonder how she would fare in the UK's version of the show. Piers? "Tony Hart's dead, love - move on." Simon? "It was all a bit cabaret, sweetheart." Amanda? "I'm loving the dress! You go, girlfriend!" Ant and Dec would think her canny, at least.

Maybe I'm being unfair. Perhaps it's not just Ukrainian sophisticates who can appreciate Simonova. If Susan Boyle can become a YouTube phenomenon, popularise classical singing and send Demi Moore into tweeting meltdown would it really be so strange for Simonova's compelling animations to do the same?

It might just happen. Her war story has over 400,000 views on YouTube and is provoking an interesting debate in the comments section. Jgoo24 notes that "sand is her bitch" and few would argue with this. "Maybe the most magnificent master piece of art of all time" says DevinsDad90, not a man prone to hyperbole. And also "i just jizzed in my pants" (thank you, deaddevil6).

Leaving aside the never less than disturbing thoughts of the YouTube massive, it's clear that Simonova has achieved her goal as an artist. If we take it that art's purpose is to illuminate the world in a new way, provoke a reaction, somehow alter the consciousness of the viewer then her work is a huge success. And that high art can come from a format that produced Stavros Flatley and that it can be popularised and sent around the world is surely some kind of modern miracle.

We can only hope that some young British artist is inspired by this and queues up in the rain with the spoon players, acrobats and Michael Jackson impersonators and makes a similar impact. But whatever happens, after Simonova's triumph, don't ever badmouth the TV talent contest to me.