Noor and the Kurta is a short film made by Fiona Brehony and Peak District-based filmmaker Al Boyd, commissioned by the Whitworth Art Gallery as part of Traces of Displacement – a major AHRC-funded exhibition running from April 2023 to May 2024, which used the Whitworth’s collection to trace stories of forced displacement, persecution, creativity, and resilience across the 20th and 21st centuries.

The film follows Noor Seddiqi, an Afghan man living in Manchester and a member of the Traces of Displacement focus group, as he reflects on a marriage kurta from remote Afghanistan – a garment he selected from the Whitworth’s own collection, and one worn in his home as a marker of celebration and cultural life. In Noor’s hands the kurta becomes more than an archival object: it is a living thing, carrying the weight of family history and displacement while remaining, above all, a symbol of joy and belonging.

Watch here.