Megan Hupperts is a painter and mixed-media artist based in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. She is currently pursuing a BFA in Painting at Southeast Missouri State University. Her work explores themes of identity, perception, and place. Her latest body of work reflects on the emotional and sensory shifts that occur when navigating unfamiliar environments, inviting viewers to consider how our external experiences transform our internal worlds. Where the Air is Different (2025) is a collection of mixed media works that document Hupperts experiences traveling across cities, languages, and relationships. She uses art as a way to preserve and participate in the unfamiliar.

The title refers not only to the literal shift in climate or geography, but to the internal shift when faced with a new atmosphere. The air really is different, it becomes a metaphor for how travel expands perception and transforms identity. This exhibition is a series of elicited responses to environments, both familiar and unknown, captured in moments that are not always reliably translated. Through the capriciousness of memory, an unspoken narrative begins to unfold. What remains is a personal narrative of fleeting moments, where meaning is both discovered and distorted in the act of remembering. This show is an invitation to pause, breathe, and consider how a place shapes a person.

Each month and as a part of a program to promote community based and integrated art making, a student artist is chosen to exhibit his or her work at the Slingshot Gallery at Catapult Creative House. These exhibitions showcase a range of work from individual artists that highlights their personal and professional artistic explorations as a part of the Southeast Missouri art community. These artists explore the physicality of the human condition, its relationship to nature, and the role of art in contemporary society.

An opening reception for Where the Air is Different will take place on Friday, May 2 from 5-7 p.m. in the Slingshot Gallery at Catapult Creative House.

All gallery exhibitions, events and talks are free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Dr. Joni Hand at jhand@semo.edu or the Department of Art & Design at (573) 651-2143.