Corinne Kamiya, 27

The daughter of a Hawaiian papaya farmer, Kamiya worked in bronze until she organized an exhibit of pieces cast in wax. Watching them melt changed her life. "Everything was destroyed," she says. "We knew it would happen. It was so beautiful."

Kamiya decided to make time part of her work. She crafted cages out of paper, held up by thread. "I sat by myself in my room cutting this stuff, thinking how comfortable cages can be," she says. She also makes landscapes out of paper. Kamiya knows her work won't last. She's watched the cages collapse. "There's a fragility to things we think are secure," Kamiya says. "I've been thinking of them as flowers." Information: www.corinnekamiya.com