Signs, beaches and bodies in pandemic times

Abstract

During the height of social distancing conditions in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, the beaches of Sydney’s eastern suburbs became heavily regulated through prolific signage, physical barriers, and the presence of police and council staff. This essay explores the role of signage, as part of the outdoor media landscape, in contributing to the specific affective atmospheres in these extraordinary conditions and further demarcating Sydney’s beaches as exclusive spaces. Drawing on autoethnographic insights and visual imagery gathered during this time, I argue signs, as under explored forms of media, act as both mundane forms of governance and more-than-mundane contributors to the reconfiguration of affective and spatial relations.