Tribute to a Head Dress is one of a number of sculptural works that Jarrell began to produce beginning in the 1980s, extending much of the formal logic of his painting practice to the third dimension. Multi-panel pieces comprised of shaped-canvases were among the most ambitious paintings of the early AFRICOBRA period for Jarrell, and the notion of shaping and assembling these forms would expand until landing on true, free-standing sculptures. Based on the form of an Afro-pick, "Tribute to a Head Dress" celebrates lived Black experience and natural hair. While the piece naturally exists as a sculpture in space, Jarrell's experience as a painter shows through on its surfaces, many of which are wrapped in painted canvas reminiscent of the base-layer tie-dyed canvases he was using for his paintings around this time.