Trui Hanoulle / photographer – storyteller – graphic designer – arts teacher – writer – motorbiker – long-distance traveller – queer – #elektrogirl – coffeeholic

From 1999 onwards, I travelled several times overland on my motorbike from Belgium to India and beyond. With fellow traveller and writer-journalist Gaea Schoeters, I made the book Girls, Muslims & Motorcycles, reissued in 2018, about a long motorcycle journey through Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, Oman and Yemen. Our encounters on the road were the basis of the book and led to other journeys in Eurasia.

I published photographs and reports such as : No room but a view, photos and video on a small group of homeless people, story chronicled by Gaea Schoeters; #andwhoareyou?, (self)portraits of newcomers, exhibited in the main library in Ghent; #elektrogirl, a journey from Belgium to Istanbul and back on an electric motorcycle. In 2019, I published a story in MO* Magazine: #NoMeansNo in Bangladesh, about women on motorcycles in a male dominated society.
I’m a regular freelancer with photographs and stories in motorcycle magazines in Belgium and abroad, always focusing on women I meet.

With a group of young refugees and a ‘white’ class, supported by a number of artists, I realised the theatre performance Shadow Train.

As a graphic designer I specialise in books and photo books. As a teacher for adults and youngsters, I fully use my knowledge as a photographer and graphic designer, and my travel experiences.

As a motorbiker, I’m linked to various international women’s motorcycle groups, forging deep friendships and writing about women’s experiences in often difficult contexts.
I lived in Armenia for several months, crossed Iran several times on my own motorcycle, and continue to combine my journeys with photographing and writing down fascinating stories.

Recently I embarked on a new global project, Move she does — Stories, ventures, and a love for stubborn nuts
The project is up and running, with nine mind-blowing stories in two countries done. Next journey will be to the UK, end of the summer. Besides the non-stop research for inspiring women and girls all over the world, and for funding, I’m now working on the first publications. Be patient, I try to be too.