School’s out, and for many young artists that means the work of building a career is just beginning. Gallery 44’s annual show of emerging talents, “Proof,” is a long-time stepping stone for fresh photographic creators. The 17th go-round features five artists to watch. Montrealer Aislinn Leggett, a Concordia University alumnus, reworks photos taken in the early 20th century—often ones that draw on her own ancestry. Karen Zalamea, another recent Concordia graduate based in Montreal, creates rhythmic series of self-portraits that show her limbs bound in plaster, among other body-conscious motifs. The corporeal and perceptions of same also come up in the work of Christophe Jivraj, a Torontonian who completes the show’s Concordian hat trick. Jivraj has worked with the same models—a group of people with physical disabilities—for more than five years. Recent OCAD graduate Meryl McMaster summons both historical and bodily themes in her work, which involves projecting portraits of late-19th-century First Nations women onto her own visage. Finally, Roger Proulx, a Montrealer born in Sherbrooke, looks to alternate future realities by staging enigmatic scenes. Overall, it’s likely that the divergent yet intertwined nature of these artists’ practices—ones that look both forward and back, within and without—should give viewers extra-credit points to ponder on photo-art’s evolving legacies. (120-401 Richmond St W, Toronto ON)

Karen Zalamea Self-Portrait with Plaster II 2009