Bunmi Agusto’s practice follows the inhabitants of a surrealist wonderland in her mind called Within. She uses this world as an exploratory site for how psychological and cultural theories contribute to the construction of selfhood. The indigenous inhabitants of Within are hybrids whose mutations are based on objects the artist finds integral to her sense of self and culture. Human family members, friends and passersby are also present in Within as cross-reality migrants who were subsumed into the world after encountering the artist in her waking life. She works predominantly with pastel pencils and mixed media on paper.
She earned her BA in Fine Art in 2020 from Central Saint Martins where she graduated with first class honours and was awarded the Cass Art Prize twice. She earned her MA in History of Art and Archaeology from SOAS University in 2022 and her MFA from the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford in 2023, both with Distinction. At Oxford, she was awarded the Clarendon Scholarship for outstanding academic merit and was selected for the Mansfield-Ruddock prize at her Degree Show. She was also selected for the Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2023. She has been the subject of several solo and group exhibitions including: Outside, kó artspace, Lagos (2022); Redefining the Trend - Histories in the Making, Christie’s, London (2022); 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, DADA Gallery, London (2022); Psychoscape, TAFETA, London (2022); Escape To Within, DADA Gallery, London (2021); London Grads Now, Saatchi Gallery, London (2021); Wheels To Water, Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London (2020). She also notably exhibited her work alongside the presentation of Kenneth Ize’s Spring/Summer 2022 collection at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Her work has been featured in print in DADA Magazine (Issue No.1), Boy.Brother.Friend (Issue No.3) and Town & Countryhouse (Mar/Apr 2023). Her work has also been featured digitally on The Financial Times, Women’s Wear Daily and Another Magazine Online.