Rooklidge’s interests span a wide range of local and global, historical and contemporary. Past exhibitions and research have included the history of California art, contemporary art of the Middle East, and craft-based practices of the 1960s and 70s. Much of her curatorial work has focused on supporting emerging and underrecognized artists.

As an independent curator, Rooklidge has organized the recent exhibitions Yasmine Kasem: Mwasah (2018) for Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana, and High-Key: Color in Southern California (2018) for the San Diego Art Institute. She served as Associate Curator at the Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY, where she curated exhibitions such as Long, Winding Journeys: Contemporary Art and the Islamic Tradition (2018), as well as large-scale installations such as Victoria Fu: Egg (2016). Prior to the KMA, she was Assistant Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, where she organized exhibitions such as Sarah Cain: blue in your body, red when it hits the air. She is currently organizing the participatory performance piece, Elizabeth Turk: Shoreline Project, for the Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA. Rooklidge also serves as Creative Advisor of the Matthew J. Mahoney Artist-in-Residence program at the San Diego Art Institute. She received her B.A. in art history from St. Olaf College and her M.A. in art history from Williams College.