Hard-hit by the pandemic, Alana Barrell emerged from the “haze” to complete dozens of works for her third solo exhibit at the CAP Gallery.

The isolation and lockdowns of the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic were challenging for those who are reasonably healthy — but for people with serious mental illness, they were often devastating.

Thirty-nine-year-old Montreal artist Alana Barrell hadn’t had a single admission to a psychiatry in-patient unit since receiving a diagnosis of schizophrenia nearly 25 years earlier. Although there are cycles when she feels less well, she had always managed as an outpatient. But in 2020, she was hospitalized three times for a total of three months.

“COVID was a really hard time for me,” she said this month. “I was scared to leave the house — and I was scared inside the house.”

Her sister, Liesl Barrell, said: “Alana was agitated and anxious and on high alert. She was suffering.”

Source: Montreal artist transcends mental health challenges with new show