About Postcards from Pyongyang
An Imagined Country, A Real Story
What if we could see a North Korea that feels real but doesn’t exist? What if we could hear its people—not as distant figures in the news, but as everyday humans, writing letters, living, loving, dreaming?
Postcards from Pyongyang is an exploration of fictional storytelling, visual experimentation, and human imagination. It began as an experiment—creating visuals of daily life in North Korea. But images alone weren’t enough. They needed stories, voices, personalities. With each postcard, the images became more than just pixels on a screen. They became alive.
From Images to Stories to Sound
What began as visual experimentation soon became written postcards, each one a window into an imagined life. And now, it has evolved further—with voice narration, adding yet another layer of depth. Each step brings the fiction closer to reality.
But this is still a work of fiction. A creative experiment. These are not real stories, but they could be. That’s the point.
Why This Project Exists
This project exists because imagination is still one of the most powerful ways to understand the world. In an age where almost every corner of the planet has been mapped, photographed, and digitized, North Korea remains one of the last places we can only picture in our minds. It is a rare modern mystery—a place where stories must be imagined because they cannot be seen.
But this project is not about North Korea alone. It is about the longing for places that feel unreachable, unknown, and untouched by endless information. Decades ago, travel meant discovery, mystery, and the thrill of stepping into the unfamiliar. Today, we arrive already knowing what we will see. The world has become small, predictable, and entirely visible. Postcards from Pyongyang seeks to reclaim the unknown—to remind us of the time when imagination filled the gaps where facts could not.
This project does not only live on a screen. The goal is to bring these postcards into the physical world—a printed book filled with letters, images, and stories, accompanied by an exhibition. Fiction becomes tangible, something to be held, read, and experienced beyond the digital space. In print, the project moves one step further from artificiality into something real, bridging the gap between imagination and presence.
AI as a Tool, Not the Story
Artificial intelligence plays a crucial role in this project—but not as the storyteller. It is a tool, a means to visualize and shape the narratives. AI helps generate images that capture the imagined life of North Korea, and it assists in refining the writing process. But the creativity, the vision, and the emotions behind each postcard remain deeply human. This project is proof that AI, when guided with purpose, does not replace creativity—it enhances it.
About the Creator
Postcards from Pyongyang is the creation of Stephen Obermeier, a Germany-based creative director, co-owner of the advertising agency ideas that matter, and AI expert. With a deep passion for storytelling and visual experimentation, Stephen began this project as a way to explore both the human side of an imagined North Korea and the artistic potential of AI-generated content. As a husband, father of three, and longtime creator, his goal is to push AI beyond mere automation—turning it into a tool for imagination, emotion, and narrative depth.
Folllow the project on instagram @postcards_from_pyongyang