Scattered throughout the four levels of Terminal 2 of Mumbai’s international airport are more than 5,500 pieces of Indian art and handicrafts, including tribal totem poles and a 3-D map of Mumbai built from recycled chips and circuit boards. Together they make up the Jaya He, GVK New Museum.

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“Moving Constant,” a gilded depiction of Indian gods and goddesses, is a popular photo spot on the domestic departures level of Terminal 2.
“Moving Constant,” a gilded depiction of Indian gods and goddesses, is a popular photo spot on the domestic departures level of Terminal 2. © Atul Loke for The New York Times

“There is anxiety built in,” said Rekha Nair, who oversees the museum and customer experience at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. “People think, I just want to get to the gate.”

As a result, the art is tucked into the hallways, baggage carousels and check-in counters so as to avoid disrupting the movement of passengers and the nearly 30,000 people who work at the airport. Angelic figures perch above the elevators. Treelike sculptures stand sentinel over the luggage belts. A mural accompanies passengers up the escalator after they step off the arrivals bus.

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“It’s a heady and kitschy mix of the contemporary, folk, antiquity, tribal, crafts, you name it,” she said. “Even when I am rushing through the corridors, there is such a wonderful sense of both discovery and also that of meeting familiar friends.”

About 25 percent of the passengers that pass through the airport are blue-collar workers traveling to and from jobs in the Middle East, and the museum very deliberately sought to include Indian crafts along with contemporary fine art.

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