A picture is worth a thousand words. It’s also worth a moment of tranquility.

At Montefiore Medical Center, a first-of-its-kind visual arts program looks to enhance and support a sense of calm for patients, their families, and employees of Montefiore. Dubbed the Montefiore Fine Art Program and Collection and founded in 2014, the program seeks to find new and challenging ways to integrate contemporary artwork into the daily life of the health system. Jodi Moise serves as founder and curator of the Fine Art Program, which is built through acquisitions, commissions, exhibitions and other related visual arts programming.

Montefiore has now entered the world of art curating, with its first public gallery showcasing photographs of Bronx-bred artist Duane Bailey-Castro. The current exhibition Connecting People, Strengthening Communities: The Harlem River Bridges, features 26 photographs, chronicling the story of New York City’s consolidation and growth through the 15 scenic bridges that span the Harlem River, an eight-mile tidal strait between the Bronx and Manhattan that seldom receives attention from the art world.

Bailey-Castro’s photographs invite the viewer to pause, explore, and appreciate the surprising beauty of these little-known engineering marvels and their surrounding landscape. This exhibit of NYC’s Harlem River Valley represents the main body of Bailey-Castro’s photographic work.

“I’m actually a cancer survivor myself, so I pretty much understand the importance of needing to be inspired when you’re going into your treatment or going through some kind of medical illness or problem,” said Bailey-Castro, a Concourse Village resident who works as a history teacher.

Rotating exhibition programs is a main feature of the Montefiore Fine Art Program, which can be viewed at the ARTViews Gallery. Launched in fall 2015, the gallery seeks to enrich the lives of all those in the medical center as well as the community by juxtaposing contemporary art in a medical environment. The gallery sponsors four exhibitions each year featuring artists of the Bronx.

“We try to not only recognize the immediate community, but also to recognize the artists of the Bronx,” said Moise.

The Bronx Artists Documentary Center helped launch the work of artists at the ARTViews Gallery recently.

“The arts and artists of the Bronx are among the borough’s greatest resources. Our ARTViews Gallery at Montefiore seeks to recognize and celebrate the visual artists of the Bronx, providing this extraordinary opportunity for creative expression unprecedented in a medical environment,” said Rachelle Sanders, VP and Chief Development Officer.

The ARTViews Gallery is located at Montefiore’s Moses Campus, 111 E. 210th St., and is open to the public seven days/week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  The exhibition is on view through Apr. 1.

For more information, visit The Montefiore Fine Art Program and Collection webpage at http://www.montefiore.org/artprogram.

Additional reporting by Jodi Moise, curator, Montefiore Fine Art Program