Emily Porter-Salmon

Dr Emily Porter-Salmon Director

Half Malaysian Chinese and half Brummie, Emily has always liked to keep her options open. She first studied English Language and Literature before swapping sides and moving over to Art History, all while keeping up her sideline as a professional portrait painter. Along the way she wrote a PhD thesis looking at textual cues in the works of David Hockney, and painted his portrait, too. She remains fascinated by words and pictures, whether in the context of art galleries or the world of brands. She is delighted to have found a niche at Sign Salad, where a tendency to become analytical about all manner of cultural phenomena is actually a good thing. Since joining Sign Salad, she has worked on projects ranging from wellness in the US to the meaning of performance and the future of digital media.

On the side, Emily juggles an eclectic and occasionally embarrassing array of hobbies – from taking over the world in strategy computer games to making scale miniatures. When she’s not pursuing these, you might find her pretending to write her novel.