Gavin Hipkins's Empire series employs his well-known technique of contrasting two image-based elements within a single montage. Wood engravings by the English illustrator Anton Lock are enlarged using a negative form and then juxtaposed with contemporary urban patches — embroidered tapestry decals intended for sewing onto clothing.

The process coalesces archaic images from boys' story-tales with decals used to embellish caps, trousers and jackets: it is as if a past generation were meeting a current one. Such layering of nostalgia with fashion is characteristic of the work.