This Diné (Navajo) sandpainting-style wall painting is the counterpart to one painted on the wall opposite in the rear lobby of the first floor the New Deal McKinley County Courthouse in 1939, reportedly by “a young Navajo painter.”1 (These sandpainting-style wall paintings are two of sixteen total such decorations.) This design is perhaps an iteration of the customary Diné sandpainting symbol representing the sun, while its companion painting likely represents the moon. Unlike its companion, however, it was partially removed when an elevator was installed in the building and an arched doorway created to provide access, and is now missing its left portion.
