Mick Ashley has released his take on the Ken Behrens phenomenon, adding some familiar local faces to his print, which will also be available as a T-shirt, with proceeds from sales to benefit a body that encourages diversity and equity in Canberra.
Ashley, who knows how to capture the spirit of the national capital, has created an image of solidarity with his interpretation of Ken Behrens, while also adding a smattering of the community.
Some of the eclectic, familiar faces on the print are The Markets Wanniassa owners Fiona and James Lester, both active members of their community; Canberra tennis champ Nick Kyrgios and the Canberra Raiders fan who appeared on Hard Quiz in a lime-green suit.
There are also some generic homages to our firefighters, medical staff, community activists ... and "you had to have a public servant".
Ashley has each person in the image saying "I'm Ken Behren", suggesting there is no barrier to co-opting the tag; that it's not an exclusive club.
"I was trying to do it without it becoming too masculine of a thing," he said.
"I'm also trying to make it as diverse as I can.
"And also to make it a bit bolshie. It's more a case of, 'We should rise up and unite, we are Ken Behrens'. Inspired by revolutionaries and bolshies, be it for liberty, freedom or uniting the people. Social media was branding the slogans 'We are Ken Behrens' and I envisaged the masses standing as one proudly flying the flag.
"And it's just another way of celebrating a misspelling of Canberrans."
The Ken Behrens phenomenon has taken on a life of its own.
A captioning mistake or phonetic interpretation of Canberrans became "Ken Behrens" in one of Chief Minister Andrew Barr's televised Covid media conferences.
Ken Behrens has since become the hero we needed in Covid lockdown.
Mick's Ken Behrens' print is available on his website mickashley.com.au.
T-shirts of the image, are available in different sizes, through local company Tee By Me ACT at teebyme.com.au.
Proceeds of the T-shirts and prints will go to a local community organisation Fair Canberra Inc, an organisation which seeks to make the national capital a fair and equitable place for all its residents, especially those from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds.
