Deputy Head of Collections, Conservation and Care, Jeremy Uden, puts the finishing touches to the conservation. Courtesy Horniman Museum.

A Navaho Native American sandpainting, created at the Horniman Museum in south-east London 38 years ago, is back on display after undergoing a complete makeover.

Traditionally used in religious ceremonies, the intricate work is made from powdered sandstone, root and charcoal and is back on show at the institution for the first time in 10 years.

"It does look spectacular," said the Horniman’s Antony Watson, speaking to the 24 Hour Museum.

The painting was created at the museum in 1966 by hereditary medicine man of the Navaho people, Fred Stevens.

Two years ago the Horniman reopened following the addition of a multi-million pound extension. Courtesy Horniman Museum.

Although sandpainting is practised by several tribes in the south west of America, it is principally a tradition of the Arizona, Utah and New Mexico-based Navaho.

Normally the paintings are made on the floor of a timber lodge or 'Hogan' on the seventh day of a ceremony that takes place for eight days and nine nights at the first winter frost.

Chanting a formula, the medicine man allows finely ground sandstones, charcoal and powdered roots and bark to trickle between his thumb and forefinger onto a smooth bed of sand.

The only tools he can use are a wooden batten for smoothing the sand and a length of string, but the coloured grains are used to form intricate patterns of figures, plants and natural phenomena such as rain and lightning.

With the consent of the painter, the Horniman’s sandpainting was preserved with a number of features missing, because if completed it would have to be destroyed as part of the ritual.

Courtesy Horniman Museum.

As Antony Watson explained, time had taken a slight toll on the work and, in order to get it back on display, staff at the museum decided it needed a makeover.

"Since it was made in 1966 it has been displayed for 28 years," said Antony, "that’s 28 years worth of atmospheric pollution. Even though it has been off display for a decade now, purely from a conservation point of view it is in our interest to restore it."

So, the long and difficult task began; a process Antony described as, "someone with a cotton bud, like a swab, going painstakingly through the whole picture to take out that layer of dirt."

The painting’s colours and imagery are now back to being as vivid as they were when the work was made all those years ago.

The seven-feet square painting is now back on display. Courtesy Horniman Museum.

A circle at its centre represents a lake, while four black lines symbolise logs that floated to the shore in the four directions of the compass. On each log stands a male and female deity: the male who gave the world the four plants depicted.

Four other figures represent the White Bringer of the Dawn (east), the Yellow Twilight Bearer (west) and the two hunchbacked carriers of the universe, who gave the Navaho their songs and painting. The whole picture is enclosed by the curving body of the Rainbow Goddess.

"I am delighted that after so many years, the Navaho sandpainting has been restored to its former glory and can be once again enjoyed by all our visitors," added Horniman Museum Director, Janet Vitmayer.

"The design represents a wonderful tradition of the Navaho people and it is an impressive example of the intricate work involved in this ancient and sacred ritual."