Which can be used as the subject of a sentence? a gerund a participle an adjective an adverb

Gerund can be used as the subject of a sentence. Gerund is a verbal type that always ends with -ing, and may function as a subject, a direct or indirect object, and a predicate noun.

Here are a couple of examples of gerund as a subject: 
Waiting is a tedious activity.
Cooking is my favorite hobby.
Smoking is very bad for you.

Where's the excerpt?  

She favored her traditional mexican clothing and culture rather than the americas. she disliked the america’s as she had represented in one of her painting contrasting her mood and clothing along with culture between mexico and america