Last Updated:April 11, 2025, 17:52 IST

“I look at banknotes as business cards of nations—miniature artworks that tell stories of identity, culture, and values.” – Rukmini Dahanukar

What if money served as more than just a means of exchange? What if each piece of currency conveyed a tale about a country’s values, artistic creations, and sense of cultural pride? With Beyond Face Value: French Banknote Design from Around the World, a fascinating exhibition examining the artistry and symbolism of French currency, renowned numismatist and design scholar Rukmini Dahanukar brings this idea to life. The show, which was curated in collaboration with Alliance Française de Bombay, NGMA Mumbai, and Avid Learning, encourages viewers to view money as a surprising yet significant window into the past.

Inspired by a chapter in her next book, Dahanukar’s curation portrays currency as the most widely circulated artwork in the world rather than as outdated paper. From April 3 to April 24, 2025, NGMA Mumbai will host the exhibition.

Excerpts from the interview:

What inspired you to curate an exhibition on French banknotes, and how did this project come to life?

Actually, this is one chapter in my upcoming book. This is sorry, sorry, sorry, this is to answer point number one, what inspired me to curate an exhibition on French banknotes and how did this project come to life. So this is actually a chapter in my upcoming book, which looks at bank notes from a different perspective and the art design and symbolism on World Bank notes, at which point I started collecting the banknotes and I am writing about them.

When I saw the entire French collection, I was very impressed with the art design and the detailing and the styling of the banknotes. So I said, wow, this gallery deserves a separate chapter. By chance I met the Alliance Française director and I threw this idea open to him about this chapter and the book that I am writing and he said, well, I am really interested in the French part of it, send me a proposal.

And then that’s how it came along and I mean, then we figured that, okay, we could do an exhibition and we would portray this and showcase this for more people to enjoy and appreciate. So that was, that’s the answer to how this project came to life.

Could you share some of the most fascinating artistic or cultural elements you’ve discovered in French banknotes?

Regarding point number two, could I share some of the most fascinating? Yes, so there is a section in my exhibition called Quintessentially French, which I will also send you visual images for this because it might be a little difficult to imagine just with an audio note. So when I looked at all the French banknotes, I found a few commonalities and very interesting, let’s say, points that impressed me as an artist or rather as a commercial artist or a brand designer. So I’m going to send you the six points that I’ve featured there and which I thought were interesting.

They are basically the depiction of the human form, showing bare and bold images. There is a banknote storyboard, so there’s connections between the front and the back of the banknote as well as images on the banknote. Then there is the fourth point is front and back mirroring.

So imagine in the 1920s and 30s to kind of, you know, design the front and the back of the banknote and perfectly mirror them. This is not a time where we are sitting on a computer and just reversing or flipping an image. So that was it.

The fifth point, which I thought was very interesting was this, sorry, yeah, the watermark windows. So watermark windows are basically security features in banknotes and usually they are separate as compared to the rest of the art on the banknote. But the French have kind of woven them up beautifully and designed around them that they don’t look like separate parts in the banknote but all look like they’re integrated basically into the artwork.

The sixth point is fashion. What is France without fashion? So all the images of people, of animals, of everything else is just very stylishly and fashionably designed with French panache and glass.

How do you see banknotes as more than just currency? What stories do they tell about a nation’s history and values?

So when I wrote my master’s thesis in 20 years ago, I actually came up with this premise that currency is not just a medium of exchange, but also a medium of communication. So that’s how I perceive, that’s how I perceive currency, all right, or the banknotes. Now, at which point my professor also commented when he read my work that wow, the banknote is the most exchanged artwork in the world.

And I felt, wow, that’s something that’s amazing. He kind of put it in such simple words. So I look at all of them as artworks.I look at them as business cards of nations. I look at them as beautiful artifacts that explain the nation’s history, timelines, values, and what a nation would like to perceive itself to its own citizens as well as to the world.

You mentioned that your Master’s dissertation led you to explore this subject further. What was the turning point that made you pursue it for two decades?

The thing is that, you know, I really love the subject. It came to me pretty accidentally actually. I think the subject chose me because I was really not sure what to write about and I struggled and struggled and I finally read somewhere that the Euro was being launched and there’s a sense of loss of national identity.

So I kind of picked on it. I really fought with my thesis committee for it to happen as a dissertation for me. So it was kind of more like a passion project even when it started and it just continued on.

I loved it so I spoke about it at various academic conferences over the past 20 years and then I said you know what, I need to do something more out of it and I need to write a book because I really enjoyed this process and I wish that everyone else or all the people around me or the rest of the even people who don’t know me but who use money will really enjoy this booklet or this manuscript and so that’s what it was and like I said before it’s my passion project so there’s no chance that I’m going to just leave it be. The exhibitions came as one more outcome which again I hadn’t planned but when I spoke to a couple of publishers just before COVID and around that time they said oh we’ll buy your book it’s not so popular then I said why don’t I take the exhibition route to make this a little more popular and interesting to a larger forum. Not that that might help me with the publishers but I just felt like sharing this so hence the exhibitions and hopefully the book should be out next year.

5. In today’s digital era, where physical currency is declining, what role do you think banknotes still play in art and culture?

Well, the thing is the role that banknotes will play in art and culture will actually increase, all right, because now they won’t be just looked upon as economic artifacts, but more there’ll be some value about art and culture. But coming to the first point where their physical currency is declining, well, that is not true.

I’ve had a chance to talk to a lot of currency experts and currency manufacturers. Even though digital currency is very popular, hard cash is still very much used across the world. If you come to specific countries, maybe digital platform is higher, but, you know, over time there will be a point where the digital currency also has its limitations in the sense that sometimes there can be a power outage, there can be an internet outage.

So you can’t obviously use it while hard cash is like they say cash is king. The other aspect that everyone talks about and which I completely agree is privacy. Cash gives you a sense of privacy.

Digital transactions don’t, even though most of the digital platforms do say that they will not be discussing or sharing information about the digital economic footprint or transactional footprint, that is not true because all of us get messages and there are inbuilt cookies and we all get reminders about where we didn’t have coffee today and what we didn’t do and how come we are not here or whatever. So I think in terms of privacy, cash still is the king.

You’ve curated exhibitions in the past, including one on UNESCO sites on banknotes. How does this exhibition differ in its approach and impact?

I’ve curated one more exhibition of the UNESCO sites. Well, the thing is that that was more of a global perspective. It was about actually not global, but the G20 nations.

So we were all brainstorming. I met a gentleman who’s a member secretary of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, and he really liked this subject because I approached the UNESCO. I mean, UNESCO turned 52 years ago, and I approached them to have a conference on this point because even though it was not something that all the central banks had discussed, most central banks in their countries chose to showcase UNESCO heritage sites on their money, obviously, because that was what was famous about each country.

And it was very, you know, tangible. And also, to some extent was kind of a promotional exercise for people to come visit, say, you know, the, I don’t know, the, the Red Fort in India’s case or Hampi or Anikyavav, or in other international cases, say, the Borobudur temple complex in Indonesia, or the Great Wall of China. I mean, not that it required anything or then the ruins of Petra, like in Jordan.

So all of these sites were showcased because they stood for something of a fair, say, brand ambassador or endorser of that country. Now, that one was different because it was multinational. It was covered international sites with just one theme of UNESCO sites.

The French one is different because it’s talking about the spirit of the French Republic and the imagery of France through its money. Now the G20, some of the notes are still in circulation. In the French case, they have been replaced by the Euro.

So it’s a different thing because the French kind of is looking at a rear view mirror, the French exhibition, because those notes are no longer in circulation. But the themes and the images of France still continue. And the UNESCO one was more about, obviously, there’s still some of the notes are still under circulation.

So it’s kind of a two different ways of looking at it. And of course, both of them are chapters in my upcoming book.

What are some of your personal favorite banknotes in this collection, and why?

So my personal collection has about 4,000 notes but let me come up with some of my favorites. Of course a lot of the French ones make it to the top of the list. There’s a couple from the Netherlands that are also no longer in circulation.

There’s some Swiss banknotes. I feel even a couple of the Indian ones like I really love the 50 rupee one which circulated in the late 90s, early 2000s. A pinkish tone with Gandhi in the front and Parliament House, the old one, the round Lutyen architectural style on the back.

I really like that because it stood for something which I believe and I’m proud to be part of the world’s largest democracy and so that kind of fitted well. It’s very difficult to pick any one. It’s like trying to choose between kids and I’ve got 4,000 so it’s difficult but I hope this answers your question.

How do you hope audiences, especially younger generations, engage with this exhibition?

I could have gone along from a historical perspective of showing the French banknotes since they no longer are in circulation. But even though the banknotes were replaced, the European Central Bank has allowed all the nations or given them that platform to showcase a French side on one of the sides of the coins.

And France chose three images, which is the parental nation Marianne, their motto, liberty, equality and fraternity, and a sower who is also Marianne, but in a farmers or in a different avatar who’s plowing or sowing seeds in the fields. Now, these three images are very important, they were part of they are like kind of the national symbols and stand by whatever is to be understood, or what people would like to understand about the French Republic. And so my curation is along these three themes.

So the younger audiences, one is, of course, people have to be a little interested in money. But when they see that they will appreciate what those three images mean to France. This is for the French guys, as well as for the non French citizens who will also appreciate the value of the French Republic.

Because of what it is in today’s coins, and how that image came to be on the previous banknotes. I hope that answers your question.

Are there any future projects or exhibitions you’re working on that explore similar themes of currency as a cultural artifact?

Wow, that is actually a question to my heart. Of course I have. I have written another 13 to 14 proposals for different nations or different institutions and organizations.

I’m hoping to look at something in the World Wildlife Fund because I’ve got a whole collection (0:16) of banknotes of animals and birds that are now extinct or are on the endangered species list. So I would love to do that because that would form a different kind of collectability as well as a different form of awareness. I have a few more projects also, but that hopefully in some time will unfold and I would love to share those with you and your channel as soon as they have to some extent got finalized.