Naciye Hanım
Naciye Hanım was the first Muslim photographer of İstanbul. Born in 1881, she established a photography studio named Turkish Women’s Photography House in İstanbul in 1919 where she photographed women from all walks of life. She had become so famous that soldiers on the war front would write letters to their wives asking them to have their photos taken by Naciye Hanım so that they could send their photos to their husbands.
Naciye Hanım also gave private photography lessons to women. Twice a week, she went to the Yıldız Palace to teach photography to the grandchildren of Sultan Reşat. She also was active in taking photos of political uprisings in İstanbul.
Here are some photos from the lens of the first Muslim photographer of İstanbul.
It is remarkable that Naciye Hanım lived up until 1973 seeing the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of the Modern Turkish Republic. A remarkable woman that enabled us to have a visual memory of Turkish women who have had to live behind the veil, rendered invisible for centuries.
