Everyday, Maryam Şahinyan (1911-1996) would walk from her apartment in Hanımefendi Street in Şişli to her photography studio located on the Istiklal avenue in Istanbul.
She was born into a wealthy and well-established Armenian family from Sivas. Her grandfather was a representative of Sivas at the Ottoman Parliament. However, because of the ethnic cleansing aimed at Armenians in 1915, the family was forced to flee, leaving everything behind.
The Şahinyans took refuge in Istanbul. Mihran Şahinyan decided to turn his hobby into a profession in order to support his family and opened a photography studio, Foto Galatasaray. This is where Maryam learned the craft, alongside her father, and became the first female studio photographer in Turkey. She took over the studio from her father in 1937 and she used the same bellows camera, black and white films and studio decor until she shut down Foto Galatasaray in 1985. She left behind an archive comprising over 200,000 photographs taken over fifty years.
Maryam Şahinyan is not only an important figure because of her work as a photographer but also because of her role as a historical witness. By looking through her photographs, we can observe the cosmopolitan population around her shop, as well as the social changes over the years. The fact that Maryam was the only female commercial photographer -and an Armenian Christian- meant that a lot of people preferred to pose in front of her camera as they felt more comfortable under her gaze. As such, she mainly photographed women, people from ethnic or religious minorities, as well as queer people. At Foto Galatasaray, the ones who might have been forced to hide their identity outside were free to expose themselves as they wished. In that regard, Maryam Şahinyan not only produced beautiful portraits, she also managed to create a safe space for oppressed communities inside her studio.
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