HOBEKI?’s first international Subodh graffiti disappears from Sikkim after 5 days

The first known international appearance of HOBEKI?'s iconic Subodh graffiti has disappeared from a wall in Rangpo, Sikkim, only five days after it was first reported.

The large stencil mural, which appeared near the Majitar Nala Bridge on the Gangtok–Rangpo Road around 30 June 2026, immediately attracted widespread attention across both Bangladesh and India. 

Its emergence marked the first documented appearance of HOBEKI?'s work outside Bangladesh and generated extensive discussion in newspapers, television, online media, and social media on both sides of the border.

Several Indian news outlets interpreted the work from different perspectives. Some viewed it primarily as a remarkable example of contemporary street art, while others questioned its appearance in a sensitive border state and discussed possible security implications. 

The mural quickly became the subject of public debate, with discussions extending beyond art into questions of borders, identity, diplomacy, and public space.

ARTCON, an art agency documenting the artist's practice, has now learned that the mural has been removed. As of publication, no individual or authority has publicly claimed responsibility for its removal, and no official explanation has been issued. The circumstances surrounding its disappearance therefore remain unknown.

The removal is, in one sense, consistent with the inherently temporary nature of street art. 

Graffiti created on outdoor walls is constantly exposed to weather, redevelopment, repainting, political poster campaigns, and advertising. Bangladesh itself has witnessed numerous examples of significant graffiti works disappearing within days or months of their creation.

HOBEKI?'s work, however, occupies a distinctive position within South Asian street art. The artist's anonymity, highly recognisable visual language, and refusal to explain individual works have made each new Subodh mural an event in itself.  

Every appearance generates public curiosity, multiple interpretations, and, at times, controversy. That same combination has also meant that several of the artist's earlier murals in Bangladesh have disappeared shortly after attracting public attention.

Social thinker Professor Manosh Chowdhury observed that politically sensitive public art often creates discomfort for certain sections of society and that graffiti carrying strong symbolic meaning has repeatedly disappeared in different contexts.

Expressing a complex reaction to its rapid destruction, Prof. Chowdhury noted that it triggers a "complicated emotion because this is a painting most people were not even supposed to see in person given its location, yet it was erased so quickly."

He reflected that while multiple works by 'Hobe Ki' or the 'Subodh series' have remained intact on several walls in Dhaka, others did not last long. 

However, because of its strategic location and the significance it had gained, the feeling is even more intricate, leaving a strange sense of loss.

The Sikkim mural itself invited interpretation without providing any explicit explanation. It depicted Subodh lying in a hammock woven from barbed wire, holding a wire cutter, with a bucket resting below and the Teesta River nearby. As with all of HOBEKI?'s works, the artist offered no statement explaining its meaning.

ARK Reepon, art analyst and founder of ARTCON, noted that although the wall has now been erased, the conversation it initiated continues. 

He observed that as with many significant works of street art, the mural's physical life proved brief, but its cultural afterlife may prove considerably longer.