“Amanyi” (translates directly to “power” from Luganda) by Ree, from Submerged 2021.

Below The Surface

Multidisciplinary Creatives

Romain Ilunga is a Business and Law graduate with extensive experience across industries. He’s worked for NAB, ANZ and ME Bank as a Personal Banker, Lender and Consultant. He’s completed a certificate in Real Estate and a Diploma in Community Services. Romain is passionate about ownership within the African Australian community.

Alaji Agostino (aka ‘Stino’) is a 24-year-old artist based in Melbourne. His musical skills have been accumulated on a self-taught basis. Alaji has set out to be well-versed in not only rapping, but also singing, producing, mixing and mastering multiple genres (i.e. Hip hop, R&B, Dancehall and AfroBeats).

Lydia Tesema is a Melbourne-born, Ethiopian radio host, presenter, writer, advocate, community developer and multidisciplinary creative. She’s the founder of Below The Surface, a creative company that combines the power of storytelling with creativity and multimedia to explore Australia’s social and political world (mainly from the African Australian/POC perspective).

Image credit: Below The Surface (Alaji, Lydia and Romain). Photo by Raizo Dope’Kid and Vuyo Mbambo.