Maryam Şahinyan

Maryam Şahinyan (Armenian: Մարիամ Շահինյան; 1911 in Sivas – 1996 in Istanbul, Turkey) was a famed photographer who is considered the first woman studio photographer in Turkey.

Her family owned much land in the region, including thirty villages and five flour mills and her grandfather, Agop Şahinyan [tr] Paşa, was the representative of Sivas in the first Ottoman Parliament.

Her family lost their property and social standing in 1915, and moved to an apartment in the Harbiye district of Istanbul.

Şahinyan attended the local Armenian school Esayan and later the French Lycée Français Privé Sainte-Pulchérie.

Şahinyan was forced to leave school and start work for her father, Mihran, in the Galatasaray Photography Studio in the Beyoğlu district.