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[Announcing the recipient and runner-up for the 2025 Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography Career Launchers!](/index%2Ephp/markdownify/node/3333) April 16, 2025 # Announcing the recipient and runner-up for the 2025 Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography Career Launchers! ![Two people working in a photography dark room and printing photos.](/sites/default/files/styles/1_5_1_large/public/2025-04/G44_CL%20Banner.jpeg.webp?itok=b7fB9b1W) rgb(255,255,255) OCAD University’s RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers is excited to announce **Alex Hall** as the recipient of the **2025 Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography Micro-residency** Career Launchers and **Zed Sheikh** as the runner-up for this opportunity. ![Headshot of Alex Hall and Zed Sheikh from left to right.](/sites/default/files/2025-04/G44-CL%20Recipient-RunnerUp.jpg) #### RECIPIENT: **Alex Hall** is a lens-based Chinese Canadian artist working in Toronto, Canada. She specializes in photography, alternative processes, and mixed media art. She is currently majoring photography at the Ontario Collage of Art and Design University (OCADU) and was a former dancer with the National Ballet of Canada. Working with themes of the unknown, irony, and the past, Alex is drawn to material driven explorations. She thinks about how the presentation of her work is heightened by the experimental materiality. Wanting the viewer to leave her work with more questions and curiosity about the world around us. [Website](https://itsalexhall.format.com/) [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/al.exhall/?igsh=MTh0Y3NqcnpudjQ3Ng%3D%3D) #### RUNNER-UP: **Zed** is a non-binary storyteller and photographer based in Toronto. Their work captures the essence of life’s most authentic moments, exploring themes of gender identity, self-perception, and the energy of human connection. They invite viewers to witness the human experience in all its beauty and complexity. Their work serves as an act of confession, liberation, and healing, showcasing the power of visual storytelling to both reveal and transform. [Website](https://www.zedsheikh.com) [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/zed.creativephoto/) --- Learn more about our Career Launchers at: [https://careerlaunchers.format.com](https://careerlaunchers.format.com/) ## Other Recent News [### 2026-27 Call for Funding Proposals for Student Groups that Support Creative Entrepreneurship on Campus The RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers (CEAD) invites OCAD University student groups with a mandate to support entrepreneurship on campus to apply for funding for student-led initiatives that strengthen and expand the creative entrepreneurship ecosystem at OCAD U. This funding is intended to help student groups create opportunities for entrepreneurship skills development, community building, and revenue-generating activities for students and recent alumni, while reducing barriers to participation for equity-seeking individuals. November 6, 2026 ](/news/2026-27-call-funding-proposals-student-groups-support-creative-entrepreneurship-campus) [### 2027 Critical Distance Centre for Curators Projections Program Call for Artists OCAD University’s RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers (CEAD) and Critical Distance Centre for Curators (CDCC) have partnered to co-create CDCC Projections Program Career Launcher. Four (4) to five (5) selected emerging artists will receive $690 to exhibit work in a single channel, projection-based screening program that will be displayed at the CDCC in March 2027. October 30, 2026 ](/news/2027-critical-distance-centre-curators-projections-program-call-artists) [### Call for Vendors: BAM! Holiday Art Market 2026 OCAD University's RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers (CEAD) is excited to partner again with Wychwood Barns to offer a curated group of OCAD U students and recent alumni the opportunity to share a vendor table at the BAM! Holiday Art Market. October 26, 2026 ](/news/call-vendors-bam-holiday-art-market-2026) Related Stories ## Related Stories [### 2026-27 Call for Funding Proposals for Student Groups that Support Creative Entrepreneurship on Campus The RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers (CEAD) invites OCAD University student groups with a mandate to support entrepreneurship on campus to apply for funding for student-led initiatives that strengthen and expand the creative entrepreneurship ecosystem at OCAD U. This funding is intended to help student groups create opportunities for entrepreneurship skills development, community building, and revenue-generating activities for students and recent alumni, while reducing barriers to participation for equity-seeking individuals. November 6, 2026 ](/news/2026-27-call-funding-proposals-student-groups-support-creative-entrepreneurship-campus) [### 2027 Critical Distance Centre for Curators Projections Program Call for Artists OCAD University’s RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers (CEAD) and Critical Distance Centre for Curators (CDCC) have partnered to co-create CDCC Projections Program Career Launcher. Four (4) to five (5) selected emerging artists will receive $690 to exhibit work in a single channel, projection-based screening program that will be displayed at the CDCC in March 2027. October 30, 2026 ](/news/2027-critical-distance-centre-curators-projections-program-call-artists) [### Call for Vendors: BAM! Holiday Art Market 2026 OCAD University's RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers (CEAD) is excited to partner again with Wychwood Barns to offer a curated group of OCAD U students and recent alumni the opportunity to share a vendor table at the BAM! Holiday Art Market. October 26, 2026 ](/news/call-vendors-bam-holiday-art-market-2026)