Ghost town photo exhibit on display at museum

Some of Montana’s earliest cities have all but disappeared since the demise of the mining industry, but many of them are forever preserved in the photography of Deer Lodge artist Lee Silliman.

An exhibit of Silliman’s work, entitled “Treasure State Remnants: Montana’s Ghost Towns,” is currently on display at the Bigfork Museum of Art & History.

Silliman stumbled upon the idea to photograph ghost towns in Montana back in 1991, when he and his parents decided to take a trip to Bannack, a ghost town south of Dillon.

“I brought a camera along just for fun, and I enjoyed it so much that I just decided to keep doing it,” Silliman said.

Since then, Silliman has travelled the state to photograph the dusty roads and empty buildings of Montana’s abandoned cities. Many of the structures and towns that appear in Silliman’s photo collection are no longer standing.

“It’s a very interesting exhibit,” said museum executive director Marnie Forbis. “He has documented places that aren’t even there anymore. But that’s the nature of ghost towns — they crumble.”

It was the collection’s historical value that attracted Silliman to the project in the first place.

“They’re not only artistic, but also they serve as a historical document — a reminder of how different life was for our ancestors,” Silliman said. “I like combining art and history. That seems to be the trajectory of my life.”

Silliman, who spent much of his career as a photographer taking pictures of the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park, uses sheet film to create his photos.

“It’s photography the old-fashioned way,” Silliman said. “The technical quality (of the photos) is unsurpassable.”

Due to the high cost of his photography materials, Silliman takes only 12 to 18 photos each time he travels to a particular site.

“I see it as a virtue, not a limitation,” Silliman said. “It forces you to think.”

The Treasure State Remnants exhibit runs through Aug. 27. For more information, contact the museum at 837-6927 or visit www.bigforkmuseum.org.