SEATTLE -- A local gallery owner's Easter Sunday was soiled by vandals who were provoked by the photographs that are the focus of this month's exhibit, or so she believes. But Marita Holdaway is not angry.

She stopped by her Pioneer Square gallery and discovered a vulgar scene.

The windows and glass of the Benham Gallery were smeared with feces. And someone had thrown a metal plate through the window. That plate is now lodged into the wall.

Holdaway believes the filthy mess was left in protest of the provocative photos that hang in her gallery.

"I'm fairly sure they were aiming at the pictures, whoever it was," she said.

The works of four different artists are featured in the gallery's current exhibit "Erotic Beauty." Some photographs are homoerotic, others contain nudity and some feature transgender subjects.

"My first reaction was 'This is a horrible thing to happen,' but then I thought about the people that have had this kind of violence done to their person. And compared to that, this is nothing," Holdaway said.

The damage totaled $800, but it's not the cost the owner is worried about.

Holdaway wants to start a dialogue over the incident. She wants to provoke discussion, not violence.

She has a message for the person responsible for the obscene message: Don't run; come back.

"Come talk to me. Come talk to me and tell me why you're so angry. Maybe I can't solve it but at least you can be heard," she said.

Holdaway plans to review the surveillance footage in hopes of identifying the protester. The current exhibit runs through April 12.