Turkey's first female photographer and her extravagant models

Mariam Shahinyan is considered to be the first woman in Turkey who became professionally engaged in photography. An Armenian refugee, educated and knowing several languages, she saw almost the entire XX century and managed her father's photo studio for most of her life. In addition to wealthy Turkish women, children and beautiful long-haired girls, Shaginyan photographed men in women's clothing, sectarians and representatives of ethnic minorities.

(34 photos in total)

Source: Vintag.es

Mariam Shahinyan was born in 1911 in Turkey, in a rich and influential family. Her grandfather was a representative of the province of Sivas in the first Ottoman Parliament, established in 1877.

After the Armenian Genocide of 1915, the Shahinyan family fled to Istanbul, abandoning several factories and real estate. The family settled in the Harbi district of Istanbul, where there was no ethnic cleansing, and soon adapted to a new lifestyle. Mariam attended the local Armenian school Yesayan. In addition to Armenian, she learned Turkish, Italian and French.

Mariam Mihran's father, who was avidly interested in photography, began working at the Galatasaray Photography Studio in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul in 1933. In 1936, his wife Dikranukhi died, and the family began to have financial problems. Mariam was forced to abandon the French school of Saint-Pulchery in order to help her father at work. By 1937, she was already running the studio herself and was doing it until 1985.

Shahinyan died at home in 1996, she was buried in the Armenian Cemetery. The photographer left 200 thousand negatives depicting the cultural, social, religious and economic history of the Turkish capital. An anthology of Shahinyan's works is on display in Amsterdam.