‘Like the Back of My Hand’ by Brigitte Orasinski of Strange Cargo is a 45m blue mosaic, studded with 101 bronze hands which covers Folkestone Central station approach wall, with a touch screen explaining the work in the station foyer.

It started as a Millennium project, organised by Strange Cargo Arts Company, in which plaster casts were made from 101 people born in each year of the last century, starting with the oldest, which was born in 1900, and finishing with the first baby to be born in the Shepway district in 2000.

The exhibition was created with the intention that it should have life as a public artwork beyond its initial showing and Strange Cargo worked alongside the Regeneration and Economic Development Team from Shepway District Council to install it as a permanent feature.

Commenting on the winning work, Dr Stephen Deuchar said: “Like the back of my hand’ is a clever, inspiring work of art rooted both in Folkestone’s contemporary community and in its history. It does what art in public places should surely do: it enhances its location aesthetically, it engages its viewers daily and directly, it has something to say, and it is widely enjoyed.
“It’s also an example of how a work of art can be an instrument of urban regeneration – in this instance something as basic as the physical improvement of a station premises. As a model of collaboration between artists and funding authorities, I hope it will provide and example and stimulus to new projects across the region”