Forbidden Things: Benches, Parks, Buttons, Swings

When the coronavirus pandemic caused severe lock downs to be put in place in March and April of 2020 throughout Queensland, local councils and other entities were quick to put up signs of warning about the virus and what actions had been banned as a consequence of it. These photos were taken between the 1st and the 11th of April 2020, generally while participating in the allowed activity of exercising outdoors, once per day. In those early days, the prevailing advice that was shared, and reflected in these photographs, was that the virus could be easily spread through touching shared surfaces (as opposed to airborne transmission). Therefore there was a focus on warning people not to touch or use certain objects in public places, and many previously bustling public spaces such as dog off leash parks were closed to the public. Now, as of April 2021, the advice is quite different, and the "don't push the button: pedestrian crossing now automated" stickers have been removed from many crossings. I took these photos at the time because I felt it was important to document some of the things I saw during the pandemic (that were a direct consequence of the pandemic). This is because it is easy to forget things that occurred or to have flawed memories of events that decay further over time. At the time I found (and still find) the photos to be eerie and unsettling, the familiar world around me changed in a way that I had not experienced before.

April 1, 2020

photograph

English Public Space

English Recreation & Leisure

English Government Local

Brisbane

Australia

Queensland

exercise

park

bench

restrictions

Brisbane

lonely

lockdown

isolation

laws

banned

touch

contact

04/22/2021

05/17/2021

06/12/2023