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Gallery Editor’s Note

Environmental historians have given surprisingly little attention to corporate-sponsored images of nature and the environment. From advertisements and public service announcements to television programs, theme parks, and documentary films, these cultural texts have burrowed into public consciousness, influencing broader debates over consumer culture, industrial development, and environmental politics. In this issue’s Gallery essay, Brian Jacobson considers The Shadow of Progress, a 1970 documentary film commissioned by British Petroleum. Focusing on the documentary’s visual juxtapositions, Jacobson explains how the filmmakers not only portrayed evidence of environmental degradation but also sought to reassure viewers that industry could solve these problems. Refusing to see The Shadow of Progress merely as a form of greenwashing, Jacobson emphasizes the film’s ambivalence and ultimately presents it as a revealing cultural marker of the Anthropocene. His essay offers a novel look at this important, understudied film. It also raises larger questions about how corporate agents have used visual culture to mold environmental values and reframe the shadows of progress.