"Support Life" Update: Getting the story of Rich McMahon out there

I was an artist on the Wolves in Wolves public art project in Wolverhampton in Summer 2017.
I designed and painted 2 5ft tall wolf sculptures: one called 'Old Gold' for Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club featuring facts and figures about the club and one called "Support Life" about suicide prevention and mental well-being in association with University of Wolverhampton.  You can scroll down this page to read an earlier blog post about the ‘Support Life’ wolf.

The workshops that I held with various groups for vulnerable people (see various logos below) led to me reforming my community arts workshops company which you can visit here: Real Arts Workshops.

One of the things that was important to me was that the story behind the wolf was told via the dibond panel attached to the plinth. 
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Rich McMahon. Photo (c) Justyna Ptak

​My good friend and previous musical partner Rich McMahon lost his own battle with depression in 2015. We worked together in a musical partnership for a number of years including on his show Beyond Borders touring the village halls around the Midlands and performing an eclectic mix of folk, pop and rock songs, covers and original, telling the story of how music can break down barriers.

Alex Vann and Rich McMahon. Photo (c) Paul Collins

​When I learnt that Rich had taken his own life it had a profound effect on me. Why didn’t he speak to me about his struggles? I’ve been there myself so I could empathise and maybe avert a disaster but then I never spoke to him about my own issues. So many questions came to me and a terrible feeling of things being left undone. We never wrote a song together, we didn’t do any studio recordings together we had so much more work to do.

Through the workshops for Support Life I was able to talk with professionals who work in this field and I was able to ask some of my questions. I gradually came to accept that even if Rich had been ready to talk (and he wasn’t) each person is a unique being with their own set of complex issues and my situation is different from his. See below for a list of these agencies with links to the work they do.

When Support Life was installed at University of Wolverhampton early in 2018, I noticed that the information panel wasn’t there. It bothered me that Rich’s name was missing when he’d been so important in the thought process behind the wolf design and painting. So I designed a new information panel and got in touch with the University about getting it installed. David Wedge from the Alumni office was really supportive throughout and I’m pleased to say the panel is now in place on the plinth and I hope people take the time to read about it.

Link to Wolverhampton Suicide Prevention Forum