Trui Hanoulle / photographer– graphic designer – storyteller – writer – traveller – motorbiker – feminist – queer – 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.

In 2022, I embarked on a global storytelling and photography project, Move she does — Women and their vehicles, Mobility as a means of emancipation
I have met with mind-blowing women and groups in Iran, England, Belgium, Afghanistan, Germany, Italy, Japan, Tanzania, France and India, for a total of 35 stories.
Now I’m writing the book which will be published by Borgerhoff & Lamberigts in September 2026, in Dutch (my native language) as Baanbreeksters (Trailblazers). Goal is to publish it also in German, Italian and in English (with an Indian publisher).
Meanwhile there are exhibitions, large and small, and talks in schools and for general audiences.