But in a young city like Canberra, it's more than enough time to watch entire eras pass.

And for Megalo Print Studio, it's been time enough to build up an entire community of artists, art-lovers and patrons, built into the city's social fabric as seamlessly as a well-chosen print sits in a frame on the wall.

The studio had planned a year-long program of 40 events to roll out for this anniversary year but, things being as they are, it's settling for an anniversary exhibition featuring a collection of works from its archive. Artistic director Ingeborg Hansen says putting the show together has felt like a homecoming, with works by the many artists who have spent time in the studio over the years.

"Megalo is such a community," she says. "Yes, we produce prints and make work, but really strong friendships are formed, and people really believe in the organisation and what we do. So it's a way of honouring some of the many, many people who've been part of it for 40 years."

Hansen, an artist herself, has been with the studio for just over a quarter of its lifetime, but she says she's seen enough ups and downs during that time for this anniversary to feel particularly special.

The exhibition is labelled a "return" of the archive because many of the works were, until recently, held in the National Gallery of Australia's collection. For various curatorial reasons, the works have been returned; Hansen says going through them was like walking through the studio's entire history.

During her time, the studio made the shift from north to south - Watson to Kingston, practically like moving countries, in Canberra terms. It was a move that spelled the end of a long-running dispute over prime inner-north real estate.

The studio was founded in 1980 by artists Alison Alder and the late Colin Little. Alder was a recent graduate of what was then a new discipline at that Australian National University School of Art. She left Canberra in the early 1980s and worked at several other print studios before returning to Canberra to head up Megalo in 2008.

By then, it was a vastly different organisation to the one she had started, in something of a limbo state, holed up in what were increasingly unsuitable quarters in Watson. The studio had been lobbying for a new space for some time, and the ACT Government had put the Fitters Workshop, in Kingston, on the table for a possible new location. But at some point, it was discovered that the workshop, one of the capital's oldest buildings, had unusual acoustics that would make it perfect for musical performances.

The long-running dispute that ensued was pure Canberra, involving priceless heritage, empty real estate on prime land and competing arts organisations. It was a bitter stoush that Alder, by the end of her stint at Megalo's helm, could hardly bear to discuss; it was she who, seeing no end to the dispute, stepped in and withdrew the studio's bid for the space. She also agreed to take up the ACT government's offer for a temporary studio space while the proposed Kingston Arts Precinct was planned and built on the nearby foreshore.

That was back in 2012, and the large, bright space, which once housed transport workers' offices in the old bus depot, turned out to be the perfect location for print studios and a gallery. To top off a perfect Canberra origin yarn, what was intended to be temporary became permanent.

By the time Alder left Megalo to take up a position at the Art School in 2016, the studio was a thriving print hub with a vibrant exhibition space. Hansen, who took over the helm, says Megalo now forms part of an international community, and the major prize it established last year attracted entries from all over the world.