Animals´ Kingdom by Pentti Sammallahti was the last show in Hallituskatu. Photo: OJ.
History
The Mikkeli Society of Art Photography was founded in 1989. The initiative came from the Regional artist of photography, Olli Jaatinen. The Society was able to rent the gallery premises from the City of Mikkeli.
With the support of volunteer team, the centre and the first exhibition were opened for the public in September 1989. Mikkeli Centre of Photography has organized so far 115 exhibitions with some 100.000 visitors.
For the first ten years the Centre had a Colour Printing Workshop. The artists working in the premises were from Mikkeli as well as from Helsinki. In the year 1999 the workshop was changed into a Computer Aided Workshop. Centre has organized several courses concerning colour printing, colour management and digital photography. The courses have been held for the members as well as for some institutes. These include among others local schools, University of Arts and Design, and Petäjävesi Institute of Art and Design.
In the spring 2010 the Centre moved to current premises, as a neighbour to the Mikkeli University Consortium, adress being Puistokatu 3. The building of Puistokatu 3 is also called The Mikkeli House of Arts, which is divided in two parts: Gallery Wing and Atelier Wing.