HER2 - A Journey Through the Lens of Love and Survival

Join us for an intimate evening with Anna and Jordan Rathkopf, a married, award-winning photography duo whose deeply personal story has been featured on CNN, Good Morning America, and honored by the International Photographic Council at the United Nations. Their upcoming book, HER2: The Diagnosed, The Caregiver, and Their Son, is a powerful visual journey that explores how they used photography to open up conversations about the emotional and physical challenges they faced together and alone while navigating cancer as a family.
After Anna, a Czech immigrant living in New York for the past 18 years, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer at age 37, she and Jordan turned their cameras inward. Their dual perspectives, through self-portraits and images of their family, became a way to talk about their grief, fears, and resilience, providing a means to confront the illness together. These photographs not only document the individual and shared struggles but also reveal moments of unexpected joy, hope, and connection as they redefined the experience of surviving cancer while raising their young son.
The Rathkopfs’ work has received international recognition. Beyond their own story, they have dedicated their careers to amplifying the voices of others facing health challenges, advocating for health equity, and pushing for a more inclusive representation of illness in media. Jordan recently founded the Patient Caregiver Artist Coalition to further this mission.
Anna Rathkopf – Raised in Prague and shaped by the city’s historic architecture, Anna learned the art of light and composition from her uncle, Pavel Hecko, a renowned Eastern European photographer. As an immigrant, her experience in New York has taught her the importance of curiosity, empathy, and community support, all of which were reinforced by her cancer diagnosis in 2016. The act of capturing her own healing and family through photography became a profound form of communication during their hardest moments.

Jordan Rathkopf – Born and raised in Brooklyn, Jordan’s background in marketing, PR, and experimental music composition informs his storytelling approach to photography. His work emphasizes structure while remaining open to the unexpected moments that capture the essence of human experience. Jordan is also the founder of the Patient Caregiver Artist Coalition, advocating for more authentic and inclusive representations of illness in visual storytelling.

A Q&A will follow the prepresentation.

Published by Daylight Books, HER2 is available for purchase here: https://www.rathkopf.com/personal-projects/her2
A limited number of copies will be available for purchase at the event.

Organized by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) in New York with the support of the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA).

Host or Publisher Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences(SVU), New York Chapter