While it may be convenient, online commerce has cast aside the human connections that revolve around small business. This economic and cultural shift and the desire to preserve the memory of small businesses, if not the businesses themselves, inspired Francesco Pergolesi’s “Heroes” and “Tableaux”—two distinct, yet intertwined photographic essays showing this month at Chicago’s Catherine Edelman Gallery.

“Heroes” is a series of portraits of Italian small business owners and their shops, while “Tableaux” depicts their intricately arranged tools and ephemera, taking a close-up, poetic look at the process and personal imprint of generations of daily work. For Pergolesi, these shopkeepers and their tools characterize the humanity that is disappearing every day from the urban landscape. Exhibited together, the projects form a monument to the people and objects behind businesses that once served as social, cultural and community forces.