The quiet power of showing up

Some of the most meaningful people we meet arrive in our lives when we least expect them.

I met Stevie during one of the most fragile moments of my life. What could easily have been a brief encounter slowly became one of the most genuine friendships I carry with me.

Stevie is the artist behind the White Rabbit of Barnes in London. For more than twenty years he has sustained a charming and deeply British tradition. On the first day of every month he dresses as the White Rabbit and appears to celebrate something wonderfully simple.

The beginning of a new month.

There is an old British superstition which says that on the first morning of the month one should say rabbit rabbit rabbit before speaking any other words. The phrase is believed to bring luck and prosperity for the weeks ahead. The custom has quietly existed for generations and still survives in many households.

What Stevie did was transform this small domestic ritual into something larger.

Stevie is also a performance artist. Over the years he has developed a body of work where art, presence and everyday life blend together in unexpected ways. The White Rabbit has become the most visible expression of that practice.

On the first day of every month, without fail, he becomes the White Rabbit and takes his familiar place on Barnes Bridge. There, above the gentle movement of the Thames and within the calm rhythm of the neighbourhood, he greets passers-by with a warmth that feels both playful and reassuring.

Children pause for a moment, unsure whether what they are seeing belongs to imagination or reality. Adults slow their pace and smile. Cyclists pass with a curious glance. Even those who have never heard of the tradition instinctively sense that something quietly special is unfolding.

On special occasions the White Rabbit may appear elsewhere at events or gatherings. Yet it is on Barnes Bridge that the ritual truly lives. Over the years it has become part of the emotional landscape of the neighbourhood, a small sign that a new month has begun.

What fascinates me most is the consistency.

For more than two decades Stevie has never missed the first day of the month. Even when travelling abroad he finds a way to keep the ritual alive. The cover of his book reflects that journey beautifully. An artist who turned a simple gesture into a quiet symbol of continuity.

His work, however, reaches far beyond the figure of the rabbit.

Much of his artistic research explores what he calls Neurodrifting, a concept that reflects on movement, attention and creativity, particularly in relation to neurodivergent experiences such as ADHD. Rather than seeing distraction as a limitation, the idea is to recognise how different patterns of attention can open new ways of observing and engaging with the world.

Now, at sixty, Stevie is about to complete a PhD at Kingston University, deepening this exploration of performance, neurodiversity and everyday experience.

Rabbits appear frequently in European visual culture. In Titian’s Madonna with the Rabbit the animal symbolises purity, fertility and renewal. Across many traditions the rabbit also represents cycles, beginnings and the quiet promise of something new.

In many ways the White Rabbit of Barnes carries that same spirit.

A gentle reminder that every new month offers the possibility of beginning again.

Yet what moves me most is not only the tradition itself. It is the person behind it.

Stevie is genuine in the rarest sense of the word. Kind, curious and quietly creative. Someone who understands that art does not only belong inside galleries. Sometimes it belongs in everyday life.

His personal work reflects that spirit. Drawings, visual experiments, playful compositions. A creative mind that continues to explore.

Perhaps that is what keeps him so young.

Doing what you love has a remarkable effect on time. It keeps curiosity alive.

Architecture works in a similar way. Buildings that survive generations rarely do so because of their structure alone. They endure because they carry meaning for the people who inhabit them.

Traditions function in much the same way.

When something is repeated over time with genuine intention it slowly becomes part of a place’s emotional landscape.

In Barnes the White Rabbit has become exactly that.

A quiet piece of living culture.

A reminder that art does not always need institutions, stages or grand gestures. Sometimes it simply needs someone who believes in the beauty of showing up.

And perhaps that is the lesson I carry most deeply from this friendship.

Creating something that lasts does not always require scale.

It requires sincerity.

It requires consistency.

And above all it requires the courage to keep showing up.

Stevie's Website: http://www.spikemclarrity.com/