MPB Meets: Documentary Photographer Jordi Jon Pardo

In this interview, documentary photographer Jordi Jon Pardo discusses his project, Eroding Franco, which explores the ongoing impact of dictator Francisco Franco’s desertification of Spain during the 20th century. Jordi Jon Pardo won the Royal Photographic Society’s MPB-supported Postgraduate Bursary.

MPB: Could you tell us about your work and background?

JJP: I am excited to be chosen for the bursary and to have the chance to further develop my project, Eroding Franco, while continuing to document visual stories in depth. It is very special to receive this bursary from a prestigious institution like the Royal Photographic Society [RPS]. 

As a university student, I was very interested in visual storytelling and I had the opportunity to study photojournalism in Barcelona where I met my colleagues Daniel and Jaime. We founded MÓN, a visual journalism organisation focused on climate change storytelling. Since 2019, we have been working on long-term and diverse journalism projects. 

MPB: Could you tell us more about your proposed project? What outcomes do you hope to achieve?

JJP: Eroding Franco is an ongoing visual journalism project that relates the scientific information that addressed Spain’s desertification during Franco’s regime with the visual documentation of the current desertification state of Spain. Three decades of dictatorship legitimised a culture of destruction and abandonment of the territory in favour of economic growth. Eroding Franco represents a real opportunity to demonstrate a silenced past, its present consequences, and a discouraging and uncertain future. Today, we know that 80% of Spain will become a desert by the end of the 21st century.

The dissemination of Eroding Franco will be digital and expository. It will be free to access online. This bursary will also allow us to develop a travelling exhibition, with sustainable and digital printing, which will be adapted to different spaces and rooms.

With this project, it is hoped that both online users and exhibition attendees will take away a deep, documented, contrasted and different idea about Spain’s desertification. Eroding Franco will seek the audience’s reflection and also encourage the search for solutions. The project will need the support of an involved society. The current times favour it, and modern Spanish society seems determined to solve Spain's desertification.

MPB: How will the bursary help you in the project and your future studies? 

JJP: The £3,500 bursary is helping me with travel and accommodation costs while I am working on the field developing Eroding Franco. It also helps me pay for services like printing or the costs of different materials such as film rolls or SD cards. Thanks to the RPS, I will be able to spend much more time focussing on this project, resulting in greater dedication and higher outcome quality in terms of the results of the research and its visual documentation.

MPB: The bursary also includes access to used kit from MPB, which camera and lenses do you think you’ll borrow?

JJP: I’ll borrow the medium-format Fujifilm GFX 50S and the 45-100mm f/4 R LM OIS WR. I stopped shooting medium-format film due to the increased cost of rolls of film, so a digital medium-format camera makes sense for me. Fujifilm is my favourite photography brand. I am very grateful to MPB for being able to work with such powerful photographic equipment! A medium-format digital camera like the Fujifilm GFX 50S (read our Fujifilm GFX 50S review) will allow me to enlarge large photographs as well as get high-quality details.

MPB: Could you tell us more about MÓN?

JJ: MÓN is a visual journalism organisation focused on climate change stories. We are a young team of photographers and journalists who have been documenting the impacts of climate change on human lives around the world.

We are committed to producing powerful visual stories that raise awareness of the climate crisis and its implications on human lives. We also want to continue to inspire people to take action on climate change. In the future, we hope to expand our work to other regions of the world that are particularly vulnerable to climate change.

MPB: Why does documentary photography, in particular, appeal to you?

JJ: Documentary photography stories give me the chance to understand the world from different perspectives. I can see other people's lives and how they cope with very distinct situations.

As for environmental stories, in particular, they represent some of the biggest challenges of our time. I strongly believe that it’s important for visual storytellers to communicate them as profoundly as possible. As a complex matter, it is also important to have a good understanding of the science behind climate change to raise awareness in a creative but scientific way. Eroding Franco shares these principles by rescuing old scientific information while trying to put it in context with powerful visual storytelling.

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