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[Ordinary People] Jasvic Lye’s work goes beyond documenting death through photography. She restores dignity to wildlife lost to human activity, highlighting the fragile balance between humans and nature. Her photographs serve as quiet memorials and calls for coexistence — urging us to confront the impact of our actions and rethink our relationship with the wildlife around us.

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Transcript
00:00So patriotic
00:06Most of the time they are birds
00:30This is a crow
00:35This one is a slanting squirrel, a young one
00:40So this one is one that the vet has kept
00:43Yeah, this is a kingfisher
00:46What I do is I will examine the tacos first
00:50The vet says it's a dislocated shoulder
00:53likely from four trauma
01:00Death by Man is my final year project
01:17It's a photographic documentation of the plight of Singapore's wildlife
01:22From rogue kill and window strike to abuse cases
01:26It highlights the harsh reality of the wild animals that are living in our urban city
01:32All these prints are the actual prints from the exhibition at Lee Kongchen Natural History Museum
01:44Okay, this one
01:49So this one is a dollar bird
01:52So this bird is the only animal that died in my hands right before I photographed the bird
01:58The vet at Acre, she actually gave me this bird to hold
02:03before she utilized this bird
02:05This dollar bird had a broken neck
02:08So the neck was just dangling around like a ragdoll
02:10I held this bird, the bird was screaming, looking at me in the eye
02:14When I photographed all the other animals, I don't cry
02:19This was the only one that I really started boiling my eyes out
02:24Probably is also a good thing because all this war, I was holding it in
02:29just to get the work done
02:31But then, because of this incident, everything just poured out
02:36I fell ill somewhere around 2018, just after I completed my final year project
02:48So I made a grand entrance to the stage when they called my name
02:52Because no one has ever seen me on a wheelchair with an eye patch
02:56And no one knew about it, even my closest friends
03:01I had autoimmune disease and I had a rare variant that affected my nerves
03:05Not only I can't feel the ground, I can't really hold things
03:09At one point, I couldn't open my eyes, I had double vision
03:12It was very heartbreaking because I really wanted to do more projects
03:18I wanted to continue Death by Man
03:22I mean, I didn't give up that hope
03:24If I ever get to hold a camera again or, you know, maybe if I only can use one eye
03:29I will still try my best
03:31After I recovered, I took a job with Acres first
03:37Then I went on to do photography after my contract
03:41And I still had this itch to get back into the wildlife scene
03:46So I went back to Acres again
03:48And currently I am the campaign manager of our Wild Neighbours initiative
03:52Singapore's first multi-stakeholder nationwide outreach program
03:57That promotes co-existence with our wildlife
04:05We are here at Mandai Wildlife Reserve to meet Dr. Charlene Yong
04:09Who is the vet at the Animal Hospital
04:11Yeah, and she's also own four committee member
04:14Death by Man is almost like a macrocosm of our Wild Neighbours' efforts
04:31People like hearing the stories
04:33Feel the, you know, the empathy, the sympathy
04:35And feel that connection
04:36Often with native wildlife that are founded
04:38It's often very gory, you know, people don't see beyond, you know, the initial goriness
04:42And yet, you know, Jaspik really brings out the beauty
04:46The sadness, you know, behind each story
04:57Joel was a roadkill found in the pouring rain
05:00In the middle of the road
05:01His mother was actually cradling him when the rescue team came down
05:05Even though his eyes were bulging out
05:07The other eyeball was missing
05:10The mother just kept cradling the dead body
05:13And the rescue team had to wait in the rain
05:15All the way until she accepted his death, let go
05:19And then she went away
05:24One of the most gruesome portrait that I have in the whole series
05:28It's the one that kids are actually drawn to, surprisingly
05:33I've ever come across a couple of parents pulling their kids away
05:37And even covering their eyes and bringing them out
05:40It really goes to show that
05:42It's the adults that are trying to ignore this reality
05:46That is happening to our wildlife
05:48And the kids are the curious ones
05:50It's very important for us to be true to ourselves
05:54This is the threats that our wildlife is facing
05:57And it's something that we should acknowledge
06:01And do something about it
06:02Whether it is drive responsibly on the road
06:05Be more careful
06:07Or if for a window strike case
06:09Maybe put up window decal stickers
06:12To prevent any bird strikes
06:14Our wild neighbours' long term goal
06:17Is for human wildlife co-existence
06:19Learning to live in harmony with our neighbours
06:22Whether human or animal neighbours
06:36I'm happy that I've recovered from it
06:39It feels like I have a purpose again
06:41Being able to tell the stories of animals
06:46That are unable to share what they want to say
06:51If I'm able to do it for many more years to come
06:54And with the support of everyone
06:57I hope to go bigger
06:59People do care
07:01We just need the stories to be out there
07:04Yeah, for them to be known
07:11ำland
07:13The people of the planet
07:15Could that're not coming
07:15We did not make advice
07:16messy
07:20Throughlife
07:21Some people who'd like to be alone
07:24Kollege
07:25Hill
07:27People don't even love
07:29Oops
07:31Bye
07:32Uh
07:33One
07:34Two
07:35theme
07:36Sometimes
07:37Many men
07:38With
07:39Some people

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