Hay started her project Empire of Light in 2019 as a method to explore her mediasaturated life and her own relationship with clocks, light and dark. The title Empire of Light is a direct reference to the work of Belgian surrealist painter Ren Magritte “L’Empire des Lumières”, who painted the paradox, a neighbourhood at nighttime with an illuminated sky. In her own way, a battle is being fought and a forced march has been undertaken by a photographed alter ego: the heroic woman Dagny Hay.