As I Remember Them Bonono bo Hlahisoang by Bowen Shen

As I Remember Them Bonono bo Hlahisoang by Bowen Shen is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2026 Moputso oa Boronse oa A' Design Award in Moralo wa Tlhahiso, Algorithimi, Paramethrike le AI Competition Category.

BoronseTlhahiso· 2026

As I Remember Them Bonono bo Hlahisoang

by Bowen Shen

Client: Bowen Shen

Moputso oa Boronse oa A' Design Award Winner in Tlhahiso Category

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Colors

The Design

About As I Remember Them Bonono bo Hlahisoang

Letoto lena la bonono bo hlahisoang le bontša linako tsa letsatsi le letsatsi tsa bongoaneng ka ho theha litšoantšo tse thusoang ke AI. Mosebetsi ona o tsepamisitse maikutlo liketsahalong tse kang khefu ea sekolo, mantsiboea a lehlabula a khutsitseng lapeng, le mekete ea Selemo se Secha, e nkiloeng phihlelong ea bophelo Leboea la China. E entsoe ka ho khanna litaelo le ho lokisa pono ka letsoho, letoto lena le beha bonnete pele ha le ntse le lumella ho se lekane ho honyenyane ha pono ho bontšang kamoo mohopolo o bolokang maikutlo ho fapana le lintlha tse nepahetseng.

The Recognition

About the Moputso oa Boronse oa A' Design Award

As I Remember Them Bonono bo Hlahisoang ke mohapi oa Moputso oa Boronse oa A' Design Award, kananelo e hlomphehang haholo e fuoang meralo e ikhethang e tsejoang ka boqapi, bohlale ba ho qapa le bohlale. Bahapi ba Boronse ke lintho tse nang le bokhoni ka ho felletseng le boqapi bo hlollang tse tiisang boiphihlelo bo bongata, mohopolo le bokhoni ba ho iphumana ba baqapi ba tsona. As I Remember Them Bonono bo Hlahisoang e lebelletsoe ho ba ntho e hlomphuoang haholo, e ratoang le e ratehang, e nang le boprofeshenale bo bonahalang le mehopolo e mecha. Moralo ona o hapileng Moputso oa Boronse oa A' Design Award o kenyelletsa mekhoa e metle ka ho fetesisa bonong, mahlaleng, moralong le theknolojing mme o hlahella ka ho tsepamisa maikutlo lintlheng tse nyenyane. As I Remember Them Bonono bo Hlahisoang e kutloisisa litlhoko hantle, e ama litakatso, e hapa maikutlo mme e tsosa takatso ea ho tseba.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: As I Remember Them is a generative art series that visualizes fragments of memory, emotion, and longing. It is an attempt to reconstruct the past through the lens of imagination.
Dimensions & Packaging: 1856 x 2464px image series
Tags: Generative AI art, Nostalgia, Childhood memories, Northern China, Visual storytelling, MidJourney, Photoshop, Digital art
Production Technology: This series was created with MidJourney, using iterative prompting and reference-based descriptions to shape culturally specific scenes. Outputs were then refined in Photoshop through compositing, retouching, and color adjustments, ensuring the final work aligned with my artistic vision and emotional intent.
Design Challenge: The greatest challenge was translating personal, culturally specific memories into AI-generated images. MidJourney lacked context for the textures of Northern Chinese life, requiring me to break scenes into elements, source references, and iteratively refine prompts. Balancing realism with the quirks of AI output, and deciding when to embrace its distortions, was both the obstacle and the creative breakthrough.
Research: Process documentation: https://bit.ly/49OvkvG

Type of Research: Practice-based creative research.
Research Objectives: To explore how AI can represent personal and culturally specific memories.
Methodology: Iterative visual experimentation and technical study.
Data Collection and Tools: Memory recall, curated reference images, MidJourney style parameters, prompting techniques, Photoshop.
Participants or Experiments: Repeated prompt and image generation cycles.
Results: Increased control over style, detail, and emotional accuracy.
Insights and Impacts: Structured prompting reduces emotional flatness in AI art.
Real Life Effects: Encourages more human-centered AI use in design and visual storytelling.
Inspiration: Bothered by how often GenAI outputs felt soulless, the project set out to render a deeply soulful subject, the emotional landscape of childhood.

I grew up in Northern China, in a hometown changed by time and distance. Through prompting, storytelling, and hands-on editing, I recreated scenes that linger in me: recess, summer solitude, New Year warmth, while embracing GenAI quirks that reflect how memory distorts and softens.
Project Duration: The project was created virtually over the span of one month in January 2025.
Operation Flow: The generative art is experienced through sequential viewing. Each image presents a self-contained moment, allowing viewers to pause, observe, and form personal associations. The series encourages slow viewing rather than interaction through controls, inviting audiences to connect individual scenes to their own memories and emotional experiences.