The Patron Saint of Physicians and Artists Waits

I asked iconographer Celeste Lauritsen to respond to the crisis in drug pricing and access in the United States. Instead of overt images of the pharmaceutical industry’s behavior, she brings us Luke. Written on wood, his figure shares space with a Caduceus and a map of the U.S. Here, the patron saint of artists and physicians waits for us. Why?   

Pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy benefit managers thrive amidst an outdated patent system and corporate monopolies. With one in four American adults struggling to afford prescription drugs, the issue of access to medicines touches households in every county of every state and territory. 

The icon’s map reminds me of "Adios Map" by the late artist and curator Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. When I first saw the mixed-media painting in the East Building at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. I felt an immediate kinship to Lauritsen’s icon. Smith’s Adios Map assembles goodbye phrases from different languages referring to stolen land across a grid of America’s mainland. Both imply. Both wait. 

Might St. Luke The Physician ask us to consider our most immediate territory? Our bodies? Essential medicines intercede – for minutes or decades – when we reach our limits. They keep us breathing. They stop cells from lethal over-replication. They digest food, control blood glucose, prevent blood clots and fight infections (if, and only if we can afford them). 

What about the organic Caduceus on the right? It’s a familiar symbol for medical organizations and publications. Asserting that the Rod of Aesculapius is “the only true symbol of medicine” is a bit of a purity sport for some people. The Rod or Staff entwined by one snake is identified with medicine. Aesculapius was, after all, the Greek god of medicine. These two symbols, however, have taken on a nearly interchangeable meaning in visual culture today. And it is the Caduceus (wings, two snakes) that suits both the delivery of medical treatment and distribution of medicines today. The Caduceus is the Herald Wand for Hermes, the Greek god of commerce. It fits. Or, in the language of corporate healthcare, it aligns. 

Icons are associated with the veneration of a saint or a narrative scene. To venerate is to honor. It also means, simply, to respect. 

When will we appeal to the brilliant promise of the pharmaceutical industry to respect us? Instead of skyrocketing prices, where are skyrocketing ethics? Skyrocketing cooperation? Major pharmaceutical companies spend more on shareholder dividends, executive compensation and stock buybacks than they do on research and development. Add on spending for advertising and congressional lobbying, and the R&D proportion shrinks even further. 

What we expect from every politician representing us and shaping policy matters. The valuable territory we cede to the pharmaceutical industry matters. 

The status quo is not inevitable. We can do better. Lauritsen’s choice of Luke is no accident. What does the patron saint of artists and physicians wait for us to see? To change? 

"Saint Luke the Physician" by the hand of Celeste Lauritsen, 2022 (9 in. x 11.5 in.)