Look closely at the photo below.

What do you see?

A British monarch?

A frightened teenager?

Look again.

Note the blunted nose.

The full, pursed lips.

The coarse, wavy hair.

Consider, too, her skin tone.

Ever since Sir Allan Ramsay painted portraits of a 17-year-old Queen Charlotte in 1762, some have whispered of her “African Ancestry.”

Was she, as some historians have suggested, Britain’s first black queen?

Charlotte residents will get to ponder and debate that question anew when the Mint Museum Uptown opens its doors to the public today.

Included in the museum’s permanent collection is a reinterpretation of Sir. Ramsay’s original painting, which hangs at the Mint on Raldolph Road. Created by American-born artist Ken Aptekar, the six-panel re-creation (photo below) challenges onlookers to consider – or reconsider – just who Queen Charlotte might have been.

Aptekar, who was born in Detroit and now splits his time between New York and Paris, is known for reinterpreting some of history’s great works, imbuing them with contemporary meaning and inviting new dialog.

In his reinterpretation of Queen Charlotte, which he titled “Charlotte’s Charlotte,” Aptekar examines her immigrant status (She was not British born), her youthful vulnerability (At age 17, she was said to have been dominated by her mother-in-law), her love for botany (She founded the Kew Gardens in London), and, yes, rumors of her African lineage.

When Aptekar was commissioned to create the work, presidential candidate Barack Obama – America’s own racial Rorschach test -- was making headlines of his own.

“I thought, ‘This is a project made in heaven,’” Atpekar said in a recent interview. “Here we were about to have…the first mixed-race president in the history of the country, and here is this queen of England… It doesn’t get any whiter than England… It was a great opportunity to explore what it means to have a leader, or head or state, of mixed race.”

To prepare for his work, Aptekar invited a diverse group of local residents – including Congressman Mel Watt and his wife Eulada – to the Mint Museum on Randolph Road, where they looked closely at Sir. Ramsay’s original painting and gathered for a focus group.

The group discussed the many facets of the painting and the life of Queen Charlotte, including the facial characteristics that have led some to conclude that she was, indeed, of African ancestry.

Not everyone agreed, of course.

“The truth of her African lineage was of less interest to me than how people felt about that possibility,” Aptekar said.

True to his artistic style, the six panels of the completed work (oil on wood) are covered with glass, onto which words were etched in bold, block lettering.

Onto one panel Apetkar etched the words “BLACK WHITE OTHER.” Onto another, “OH YEAH SHE IS.”

If Aptekar’s work sparks discussion, or even debate, it will have accomplished what museum officials hoped when they commissioned the piece.

“I think Queen Charlotte really serves as the icon for this city,” Carla Hanzal, the Mint’s curator of contemporary art says in a YouTube video. “I think having a contemporary reinterpretation of Charlotte really speaks to the diversity of our population.”

In an interview with Qcitymetro Hanzal said she wanted a piece that would “flesh out the historical person of Queen Charlotte.”

No one, of course, seriously believes that the debate over Queen Charlotte’s lineage will be settled anytime soon, if ever.

Those who say she was of African ancestry point to what is thought to be her descension from a black branch of the Portuguese royal family, which was descended from Moors, or black Africans.

The Queen’s physician, Baron Christian Friedrich Stockmar, reportedly described an elderly Charlotte as "small and crooked, with a true mulatto face."

Those who say no argue that Sir. Ramsay, a devout abolitionist who painted many portraits of the queen, had a political motive in accentuating her African features. Indeed, portraits painted by other artists depict a more Eurocentric Charlotte. They also argue that no African features would have survived the many generations that separated Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz from her Portuguese ancestors.

As for Aptekar, he has his own thoughts.

“I suspect it’s probably true,” he said of her rumored African roots. “I suspect that is the case.”

And how is this debate playing out across the pond?

Historically, it has been largely ignored.

Aptekar said he recently approached some British curators about showing his work.

“Not one museum was interested,” he said. “And what’s more, when we contacted the keeper of the Queen’s Collection that holds one of the portraits, he said, ‘I don’t really believe it.’ He wouldn’t even entertain the thought.”

 

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