CreditMoshe Katvan
Steeve Mackaya arrives each morning before rush hour with three stacks of newspapers, two milk crates and, rain or shine, a different boldly colored suit. The photographer Moshe Katvan noticed him sitting in his wheelchair and was mesmerized. "He was like a piece of New York street art, totally unbelievable and amazing," the photographer said. "You won't see it anywhere else in the world. I asked him what he wanted, if he wanted money. He said he wanted nothing. He just wanted to say his piece."
Mr. Katvan began photographing Mr. Mackaya, 30, and learning details of his life: that he was from Gabon on the west coast of Africa, that he was disabled by polio as a child, that he came to the United States in 2013 as part of a United Nations youth delegation to advocate the rights of disabled people. A t the time he was seeking asylum here, without success. So he lived in a homeless shelter uptown, and because he could not get a job, he sold newspapers on a corner in Chelsea, hoping his suits would signal the dignity and resourcefulness of people with disabilities. Eventually, Mr. Katvan invited his new acquaintance home.
"He said he can't store his suits in the homeless shelter, so he stores them at a friend's house near here," Mr. Katvan said. "I thought I exhausted all his suits, but yesterday he was in a red suit with sequins."
At Mr. Katvan's apartment, Mr. Mackaya spoke loftily about the need for justice and dignity, and about how these were absent from his New York experience so far, especially in the homeless shelter. "We fled from the rain to avoid getting wet," Mr. Mackaya sai d, speaking into a recording app on Mr. Katvan's smartphone. "And we landed in the ocean."
Correction: August 6, 2016An earlier version of this article misstated the name of the newspaper salesman. He is Steeve Mackaya, not Steve Malek. The error was repeated in an accompanying slideshow.
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