This Diné (Navajo) sandpainting-style wall painting is one of sixteen such murals reportedly painted by “a young Navajo painter”1 in 1939 to decorate the first-floor lobby of the historic McKinley County Courthouse, which was built through the New Deal and opened that same year. It is part of a set of two, as almost all of the courthouse wall paintings are. Its counterpart was painted directly across on the opposite wall. This design is perhaps an iteration of the customary Diné sandpainting symbol representing the moon, while its companion piece likely represents the sun. Unlike its counterpart, however, this painting is still largely intact—look closely to see how efforts have been made to preserve it over time by painting around it (the original wall color appears light green).
