Pictures of the week: Amelia's World, by Robin Schwartz

Exploring “inter-species relationships” is a fancy way of saying that New York photographer Robin Schwartz takes pictures of her daughter posing with animals. → Photograph: Robin Schwartz / ClampArt Gallery, NYC

Over a period of 11 years, the Amelia’s World project sees the girl fearlessly hugging elephants, kissing kangaroos and lounging with monkeys. → Photograph: Robin Schwartz / ClampArt Gallery, NYC

Once a chubby three-year-old with bunches, cuddling a monkey little bigger than herself, Amelia is now 14, with long hair and into fashion. → Photograph: Robin Schwartz / ClampArt Gallery, NYC

This shot was taken in Paris in 2010: Amelia with a pair of greyhounds, Pioute and Belle, on loan for the day as Schwartz “was getting dog withdrawal from my whippets back home”. An instant before, Amelia flung back her head and flicked her hair, gravity and a short shutter speed keeping it briefly aloft better than any styling products. → Photograph: Robin Schwartz / ClampArt Gallery, NYC

It’s safe to say Schwartz is an animal person – she has been documenting them since she was a girl. “I cannot survive without them,” she says. → Photograph: Robin Schwartz / ClampArt Gallery, NYC

The Amelia’s World project has an otherworldly quality that is occasionally disturbing: her daughter windswept in a leopard-print coat next to a dog wearing the same, or playing dead while kangaroos sniff her hair. → Photograph: Robin Schwartz / ClampArt Gallery, NYC

“I didn’t want to depict animals as noble or beastly, but as part of our everyday world.” → Photograph: Robin Schwartz / ClampArt Gallery, NYC

Schwartz began taking pictures of her daughter when her mother died. “Suddenly I was no longer a daughter myself, so I wanted to spend as much time with Amelia as I could.” → Photograph: Robin Schwartz / ClampArt Gallery, NYC

The series, she says, will last for as long as Amelia is interested. They say never work with children or animals, but teenagers and animals is starting to prove an even trickier proposition. Photograph: Robin Schwartz / ClampArt Gallery, NYC

Over a period of 11 years, the Amelia’s World project sees the girl fearlessly hugging elephants, kissing kangaroos and lounging with monkeys. Once a chubby three-year-old with bunches, cuddling a monkey little bigger than herself, Amelia is now 14, with long hair and into fashion. Photograph: Robin Schwartz / ClampArt Gallery, NYC

Exploring “inter-species relationships” is a fancy way of saying that New York photographer Robin Schwartz takes pictures of her daughter posing with animals. Photograph: Robin Schwartz / ClampArt Gallery, NYC

The series, she says, will last for as long as Amelia is interested. They say never work with children or animals, but teenagers and animals is starting to prove an even trickier proposition. Photograph: Robin Schwartz / ClampArt Gallery, NYC