Beyoglu's Feminist
Story of Turkey's first woman photographer Maryam Sahınyan
Personal Life
Born as a privileged family member in Sivas in 1911, Maryam Şahinyan was the granddaughter of the Ottoman Parliament's first chamber of Deputies, which represented the Sivas Province. Unfortunately, her life changed with the tragedy of the Armenian genocide that happened in 1915 when she was only four years old. Her family moved to Istanbul, causing them to leave their properties that contained approximately thirty villages, five big flour factories, and numerous real estate properties.
In 1933, Maryam's father, Mihram Şahinyan, became a partner at the Foto Galatasaray studio in Beyoğlu, at the time managed by two Yugoslavian Brothers. With Maryam's mother, Dikranuhi Şahinyan's, sudden death in 1936, the family's limited finances were strained. Even though she finished her primary school at Esayan Armenian School, She ended her education in middle school due to her family's economic struggles and to work besides her father in Galatasaray studio, unlike hher brothers, who continued their education. Finally, by 1937, she decided to shoulder the financial burden of the family and manage the studio independently.
In 1986, Maryam decided to transfer Foto Galatasaray with its entire archive, but the new owners decided to close Foto Galatasaray two years later, and the entire archive was packed for destructiın. This archive, which was saved by Yetvart Tomasyan, has survived to the present day as a book study with the work of Taayfun Serttaş and the contributions of Aras Publishing.
Maryam passed away in 1996 at her home in Sisli Hanimefendi Street at the age of 85. She was then buried in the Sisli Armenian Cemetery.
Works
Under the conservative conditions of the period, this situation was considered a reason for many women in Istanbul to provide various advantages to the studio, and during her half-century professional life, Maryam worked ubşbterruptedly in her studio, which she operated in three different venues in Galatasaray. Maryam did not judge anyone. That's why everyone, somehow, got in front of this woman as she was.
The most stylish women of the city, non-Muslim families, Russians who fled Bolshevik Revolution and took refuge in Istanbul, theater groups, musicians, military officers, baptized and circumcised children, transsexuals, couples on their wedding day, women in their underwear and little girls who make themselves butterflies with thier skirts held on the both sides.
