Tribute to Chaka

Wadsworth Aikens Jarrell is an African-American painter, sculptor and printmaker. He was born in Albany, Georgia. Jarrell's career took him to Africa in 1977, where he found inspiration in the Senufo people of Ivory Coast, Mali and Burkina Faso. Upon return to the United States he moved to Georgia and taught at the University of Georgia. In Georgia, he began to use a bricklayer's trowel on his canvases, creating a textured appearance within his already visually active paintings. The figures often seen in his paintings are abstract and inspired by the masks and sculptures of Nigeria. These Nigerian arts have also inspired Jarrell's totem sculptures.

Jarrell was commissioned by the Fulton, County Arts Council under the guidance of its Museum and Public Art Committee for the entrance corridor to Assembly Hall at Fulton County Government Center.