The 71-year-old Zdena Šarić is a self-taught artist who started painting when she retired. Coping with social isolation after retirement, she discovered the so-called "Iron painting", formally called "encaustic" painting technique, which is an effective form of art therapy (due to its simplicity and flexibility) which helps reduce stress. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, art schools teach encaustic theory, but few people researched it before. Zdena Šarić - seeing it help her cope with depression caused by retirement and loneliness - began showing other people how to take care of their mental health by “iron painting”. That is how she and her friends - all older people - created the volunteer-based cultural center Naš most in Zenica, which now gathers large numbers of older people.
Studies have shown that art therapy can improve self-confidence and fight depression among older people. Zdena Šarić encouraged a large community of older people, who learned to paint with irons, explore their creativity, exhibit their works, and even sell them. They do all this in Naš most, a local association that has been organizing artistic and cultural activities for older adults and people with disabilities in Zenica since the beginning of 2013. Naš most has organized numerous art craft courses, art exhibitions and music and theatre performances, and performances involving older people - mostly women - to encourage their social inclusion. The works of its members are exhibited in the gallery of the association. While other major cities in Bosnia have government-supported healthy aging centres to help socialize older people, most of Naš most's work is largely funded by its own membership fees and is based on the volunteer work of senior officers. The number of its activities and members has been constantly growing in the last few years.
Zdena’s Naš most association has established numerous international collaborations with cultural institutions from Europe and the world. One of them is the activist and artistic cooperation of Ukraine, Slovakia, Poland and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which explores the role of older women in their urban communities. The project, called Urban Herstories, produced a transnational map of footprints, trails and memories of older women living in cities. The aim of the initiative is to capture and explore women's perspectives on social, political, urban and personal change in urban post-communist environments.