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Thai Orchid

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The national flower of Thailand is the blossom of the cassia fistula or golden shower tree but the high humidity and high heat also make the country an ideal growing location for more than a thousand species of orchids, making Thailand (one of) the world’s largest exporters of orchids (Nation Thailand | ASEAN Garden). In Thailand itself, they are a mark of respect and are given, for example, to teachers on Teachers’ Day (Thailand Now).

These orchids (perhaps Phalaenopsis Baldan’s Kaleidoscope) are on the shutters of Orchid Thai Massage (web) in Great Victoria Street, Belfast city centre.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Twist The Sinews Of Thy Heart

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Here is another gallery of the frequently-refreshed Project24 space on Queen’s Parade, Bangor, with new work by Keyto (ig), Féoil (ig) and others.

Previous galleries:

2025-06 Love All Round Ye
2025-04 Shrunken Heads
2024-11 Zoom!
2024-04 How About This For Art?
2023-11 Stop Ruining Art
2023-04 Around Every Corner
2023-01 This Is Not The Same As Every Day

The final two images are from the front of the road, from Thick As Thieves Streetwear.

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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The Eye Of Providence

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The Society Of United Irishmen – who hoped for French support for a rebellion in Ireland – could not meet openly while France and Britain were at war. In Belfast, meetings were held at Dr [Benjamin] Franklin’s tavern in Sugarhouse Entry, also called “Peggy Barclay’s” after its owner, under the guise of a social group called the Muddlers’ Club.

There is today a restaurant called The Muddlers’ Club, named after the society, in Warehouse Lane. The piece above shows a skull, a scythe, a pair of wings, and the Square & Compasses of the Freemasons (with a “G” for “God” or “geometry”). The second piece includes a skull, an eight-pointed star/compass, and an Eye Of Horus (familiar from Freemasons, the 1 dollar bill in US currency, and the Illuminati).

The piece on the left was painted by Visual Waste (web) in June, 2017; the one on the right was added later.

Two earlier pieces with similar imagery on the other side of the entry disappeared with the wall they were painted on: see God Approves Our Undertakings and The Wider Conspiracy.

See also the Visual History page on the Belfast Entries.

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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