Discover Hannelore Knuts' newest publication "HK & IK'.
On Saturday 13 June, she will be present at the gallery for a book signing and talk.
For the occasion, a series of photographs by Knuts will be presented and will be available for purchase as well. More information will follow soon.
The photographs originate from an archival box that Knuts kept throughout her years of travel. It is one of the few personal archives that remained intact despite a highly nomadic lifestyle that involved frequent international relocation.
The images were made over a period of several years while travelling for work. Many were taken during periods spent alone in hotel rooms and temporary residences. Photography functioned as a personal creative practice alongside her modelling career and as a way to document observations, experiences, and emotions encountered during constant travel.
Before becoming a full-time model, Knuts studied photography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. During her studies, a professor encouraged students to learn “how to see, not only how to look.” This idea remained an important reference point throughout her career.
During a period of doubt, homesickness, and personal reflection, photography once again became an important tool for observation and self-expression. The photographs presented in this selection largely date from that period.
The work was produced before the widespread use of smartphones and social media. The images were not created for publication or public presentation, but as a personal visual record.
After several years of making photographs as a personal practice, Knuts began to consider whether the work might take the form of a book. The idea emerged from a desire to give the images a life beyond the private act of photographing. She printed a selection of photographs on a home printer and assembled a simple book dummy, creating a starting point. The project remained a private ambition and was never formally pursued. As her modelling career continued and life moved on, the mock-up and photographs were packed away in an archival box and largely forgotten. More than twenty years later, the rediscovery of that box brought the work back into view, preserving not only the images themselves but also the original selection she had made at the time.
Together, the photographs provide insight into experiences of solitude, uncertainty, observation, travel, and the contrast between private life and the public world of fashion.
When describing her approach to photography, Knuts has often used the following comparison: “If life is a novel, then my photography is poetry.” She sees photography as a process of distilling experience to its essential elements, leaving space for viewers to form their own interpretations.
June 2, 2026