This sculpture in the town centre purports to celebrate the ethnic diversity in Bedford, though I'm not entirely sure of the thinking behind it. The faces are patterned with “bricks” and the post-war brick industry relied very heavily on immigrants from Italy. The backs are patterened with lace, and the 16th century lace-making industry is attributed to the arrival of the Huguenots, but that is only two groups. The fact that the faces are facing one another is supposed to imply that there is a healthy dialogue among all our ethnic groups but I feel that is a bit of a grasp at a straw. I believe that the artist made one head, cut it in half and intended to have it mounted against a wall because the other side is a flat and as featureless as it is possible to be.
But it does provide one of those “under the clock” meeting places for evening rendezvous, and when the light catches it just right it's almost OK.