[Jim Hubbard]'s chief theme is eviction. [Mark Peterson]'s is the plight of the mentally disturbed. Nieto [del Rio] is a staff photographer for New York Newsday whose subject is Mexican and Latino illegal immigration. All three editorialize, they do not just report. [Jim Goldberg], who photographs California runaways and street kids, is an Issue Artist too, but an Issue Artist of a superior sort. He's a superior Issue Artist because he's a superior artist. His every shot is stunning.

Homelessness is awful. Homelessness is also as American as apple pie. It is not a new phenomenon. The Pilgrims and the pioneers and the Okies depicted in "The Grapes of Wrath" were often homeless too. There used to be hobo jungles and skid rows in every major city. Catching a freight, riding the rods, being on the bum used to be the stuff of poignant songs and fiction. Nor are the homeless now more numerous than they were 60 years ago. In 1931, the bulls of the Southern Pacific Railroad evicted 638,000 "vagrants" from their freight trains and their yards. But Issue Art is rarely interested in context. Context cuts our anger, mitigates our guilt, diminishes our pain.

PHOTO; PHOTO,,Art Gallery/University Of Maryland At College Park CAPTION: In WPA's "Shooting Back:Photography by and About the Homeless" are works by Dion Johnson, 13 (above) adn by [Calvin Stewart], 17 (left). CAPTION: From WPA's "Shooting Back" exhibit, a picture taken by [Daniel Hall], 10, at the Capitol City Inn, 1990. CAPTION: From the "Trouble in Paradise" show, [Carrie Mae Weems]'s "American Icoons", and Pearson Post Industries' "Telepodium Launcher." CAPTION: [Jay Critchley]'s "Old Glory Condom Corporation." (This photo ran only in early edition.)