Shakarian is one of the first Armenian photographers to have established a business in Bulgaria. His ‘Venus’ photography studio was opened in the late 1890s and operated at least until the end of the 1930s. Specializing in cabinet portraits and school group photographs, Shakarian practiced in conventional, functional studio photography and displayed no ambition to go beyond the commercial aspect of such work. Shakarian’s customer were ordinary citizens many of whom were from the Armenian and Greek communities of Sofia. The biographical details of the photographer are not known.

Vigen Galstyan, 2016