‘The Currency Project’ with Emaad Paracha: April 5

On April 5, the show’s final keynote speaker will highlight his Currency Project, which combines numismatics, notaphily, travel and culture and has garnered international media attention.

Born in Pakistan, Emaad Paracha is a coin and banknote collector who has lived and worked in four different countries and can speak more than five languages, including Russian and Urdu. He’s also a former vice-president of the International Association of Students in Economic and Commercial Sciences (AIESEC), an international youth-run, non-governmental and not-for-profit organization.

For his Currency Project, which will be the scope of his presentation, he photographs locations on currency around the world. He started in his home country of Pakistan with a 20-rupee note depicting Mohenjo-daro, an archaeological site – and one of the world’s earliest major cities – dating from about 2500 BC.

“I had grown up seeing those pictures on the notes and in my history books, and after I took that picture and shared it online, people really loved it and many even said they didn’t even notice that on the note until I shared the picture.”

Soon he was photographing old notes and coins from his collection plus new worldwide currencies, including Canada’s latest banknote, the vertical $10 bill depicting Viola Desmond and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

“It’s not only a fantastic way and reason to travel but also to learn and showcase about the countries and places themselves. A country’s currency explains a lot about what the country values, showcases their beauty and important events and people, and I love learning about all this and sharing it with the world. It gives me a reason to travel to different countries, different cities – even hiking to the second-highest mountain in the world – and it’s amazing being able to share the history and culture of different countries with everyone.”

Paracha’s presentation will be held at 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. in the ballroom hallway, just outside the bourse.