Born in Kelowna, British Columbia, Jason Gowans now lives in Montreal where he is completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography at Concordia University. Gowans’ recent visual essay, Music and Mythology (2009), deals directly with music as a contemporary aesthetic experience and uses humour to explore the relationship between music and image. Drawing inspiration from the sheet music of “O Canada,” Gowans was inspired, not by the historical politics behind the national anthem, but rather, by the way that young Canadians identify with the song. He is particularly interested in the sense of disenchantment with Canadian patriotism in the globalized context. In the diptych Getty Lee – The Canadian National Anthem, Camden Yards, 1993 MLB All-Star Game, Gowans deals directly with Canada’s relationship with the United States. Dominated by its neighbours to the south and the spectacle of their national anthem, the identity of the Canadian national anthem is overshadowed by the United States. Furthermore, Gowans’ choice of medium, a captured image from YouTube, reflects the state of patriotism in Canada. The blurred image is falling apart through the pixilated nature of YouTube and the image inaccurately represents the live event. For Gowans the images presents a utopia that is now in dystopic ruins much like the state of Canadian patriotism.

Jennifer Patterson