Tropicana Magazine Nov-Dec 2018 #121: Festive Frivolities

THE HOME
“I was in Niger, where I’m doing most of
my work now, and in the car on my way to an
important client meeting,” says Kamara. “I just
couldn’t stop crying. When I got to the meeting I
had to pretend I had allergies, because my face was
swollen, and then I had to do the meeting all over
again the next day, because I couldn’t remember a
thing.”
Kamara is an engaging, passionate 39-year-old,
who returned to study architecture after spending
six very successful years as a software developer
in New York and Baltimore. “I drew all the time
as a child, but I come from a family of scientists,
and so you had to be an engineer or a doctor or
something. I couldn’t imagine being an artist
but architecture is somewhere between art and
science,” she says.
With Adjaye, famously charming and looking
very spry after six months on a newly adopted
vegan diet, she makes an impressive team. “Mariam
seems to be looking for a new way to make the
future take shape in her own country. I’m working
a lot in West Africa, and there’s a great lack of skills
and confidence there, but extraordinary scope to
do things. I felt Mariam was someone to support to
make that happen,” he says.
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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018 | TM