Drastic inequality is by no means new in New York. Jacob A. Riis was called a muckraker after he chose to spotlight the city’s poverty at the turn of the 20th century by photographing it. Here: Sweatshop in Hester Street, 1889-1890. (Photo by Jacob A. Riis/Museum of the City of New York, Gift of Roger William Riis)

Nurse's Home, North Brother Island, New York. Photographer Christopher Payne specializes in the documentation of America’s vanishing architecture and industrial landscape. His new book, North Brother Island: The Last Unknown Place in New York City, explores an uninhabited island of ruins in the East River of New York City. (Photo by Christopher Payne)

The Upside Down Room, with furniture on the ceiling and real beds and chairs that open out of the floor, is one of many creative and even bizarre rooms shown photographed February 14, 2002 at the Propeller Island City Lodge in Berlin, Germany. Owner, artist and musician Lars Stroschen designed the rooms of the hotel, which has 28 rooms and has been open since June, 2001. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A person dressed as a zombie walks during the annual Zombie Walk in Mexico City, Mexico on October 21, 2023. (Photo by Quetzalli Nicte-Ha/Reuters)

A performer dances in the Chinese New Year parade in Sydney on February 17, 2013. The parade featured more than 3,500 performers from Australia and China, including 120 performers from Shenzhen, Sydney's offical partner city for this year's festival. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

Donny Golden shares a laugh with dancers from the Irish American Society during the 250th annual St. Patrick's Day parade March 17, 2011 in New York City. The parade honors the patron saint of Ireland and marched for the first time in the U.S. on March 17, 1762, fourteen years before the Declaration of Independence.

A man cries in a graveyard during the funeral of Nasser Ali Afglio, a young Libyan rebel killed during battle with government troops loyal to Libyan ruler Moammar Gaddafi April 19, 2011 in Misrata, Libya. The graveyard where Nasser was buried has hundreds of simple concrete graves; many dozens are those that have been killed during the last two months of fighting in the besieged town. Thousands of civilians are trapped in Misrata as fighting continues between Libyan government forces that have surrounded the city and anti-government rebels there. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)