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yours are half-German, half-Burkinabe.
So in both our cases, the next generation is
mixed, and we each have to think about our
own identity. I’m just kind of putting some
landmarks in our parallel journeys. I grew
up in a really busy and crowded megacity,
Bombay. I studied in a very regular way,
in fact I finished architecture very quickly
and set up an office immediately. By 1990
I had already moved out of Bombay. It was
not very common in the Indian world for
a woman to go off on her own and all the
rest of it, like going on a motorbike, what-
ever. So I did things which looked bold
to people there, but I never cared much
about social opinions because I was very
free-spirited. I felt that no matter what I
did, no matter how small the thing, such
as smoke a cigarette, I would be criticized
just the same, so it really didn’t matter
what I did. I knew what I was doing for
self-development, I wanted to serve society,
and everything would follow, I didn’t have
to be in a hurry to be popular, I would be
free from that trap.
FK: I started building while still a stu-
dent. I didn’t have to wait. By the time I
graduated, I was already an architect.
AK: I remember you as a very simple
Francis in the pre-Aga Khan period. How
did the award affect you? I mean to get so
much attention is something like a test, no?
And also a challenge because along with
all the recognition comes something you
have to carry. How do you feel about this?
FK: If I look back, I think it was for me
very important to win the Aga Khan. Some
people may say that prizes bring nothing,
but that’s not true in my case. It created
an awareness, people began to know of my
work. That’s how, for example, I know Luis
Fernández-Galiano, curator of this exhibi-
tion. But later it became a responsibility,
because all these great people would tell
me that if I kept pushing, I would be the
first person in history to really deal with
people. But I just stayed focused and said
to myself: okay, what are they telling me?
What they tell me is nice to know, but
what’s important is that something in my
work may be of interest, so just keep going,
don’t wait, don’t stop. I kept going, I kept
pushing. So the Aga Khan was important
because it was a push.
AK: When did you decide to live in Ger-
many instead of going back?
FK: No, I never decided. I still go back
and forth. I stay in Ouagadougou, at the
place of a brother of mine where my mother
is living. He takes care of my mother be-
cause my father passed away. In the village
it’s not easy to feed old people if the family
situation is not traditional. By tradition
I would have had to stay home and have
a lot of kids, and take care of my mother
in lieu of my father. I have brothers and
sisters but they have their own families to
care for. And the food situation is not all
that good and of course I don’t want my
mother to suffer. In Ouagadougou I see her
for half an hour, very intense, then I am
in Burkina already. Upon arrival, that is
what I need. Then I go for the project. And
every night I am back.
“In India it was not very
common for a woman to set
up an office on her own, but
I wanted to serve society“
